


Do You Remember Me?

by hyperInactive, Quillstar



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Five Stages of Garyl, Fluff and Angst, Lup Breaks Out of the Umbrastaff Early, ill add characters/relationships as they appear, what happens next will shock you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-01-27 12:44:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12582172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyperInactive/pseuds/hyperInactive, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quillstar/pseuds/Quillstar
Summary: Lup breaks a little, then the Umbrastaff breaks a little, then she makes others break a little.





	1. Here There Be Gerblins: Found Family

**Author's Note:**

> So this is an au that Quillstar and I thought of, and i really really like it so i hope that this fic does it justice! I cant spoil what the au is tho so sorry.

As Taako, Merle, and Magnus entered the chamber of the cave, the first thing they noticed was the skeleton. Well, actually Taako noticed it, but he pointed it out fairly quickly. Dressed in a decaying red robe, it had an umbrella leaning at it’s side. The umbrella seemed to be calling to them, but that was stupid because it was just an umbrella. 

 

Just an umbrella. 

 

* * *

 

It was so cold. For ten years, all Lup felt was cold. She had never liked it, not even when she was alive, she always preferred warmth. Why do you think she always had fire magic ready? Now she couldn't even conjure a small flame to warm herself with. She was trapped in her own goddamn umbrella with no magic, no way out, and no company.

 

As soon as she gained consciousness in the Umbrastaff, she wondered what happened to her friends. Her family. Were they worried?  She knew Barry and Taako would be worried sick, and she hated that she couldn't make it back to them. She didn't blame the dwarf, it was her gauntlet that made him kill her. She wasn't even sure how long it had been, but as time passed she wondered if they were still looking for her. What had her note said again?  Oh, right. 

 

_ Back Soon _ . 

 

Ha, that worked out for her, didn't it? God, she missed Barry. She missed his stupid fucking jeans and how he didn't seem to know any other type of pant existed. She missed making fun of him for being such a nerd. She missed holding his hand in the fields and watching the clouds pass in the world she had hoped they could start a life in. She missed Taako too, oh so much. She remembered the Best Day Ever, and it still made her smile. Sometimes, to keep herself sane, she would cycle through memories of her brother, grounding herself, and imagining finally reuniting with him. Would they cry? Probably not, there would be some Quality Sibling Teasing instead. 

 

But first, someone had to find her, and it had been so long since she left the Starblaster. If they hadn't found her yet….

 

She leaned against the black curtains on the wall and struggled to keep her eyes open. It had been so long.

 

Then, she felt it. Someone magical had entered the cave, two actually. She focused on the magical energy and pushed her own outward, screaming from the exertion and begging them to notice her. Then one of them spoke and Lup felt her heart stop. He was here! He had found her, she wasn't alone anymore!

 

“Taako?” She shouted, knowing he couldn't hear her but needing to try. She banged her fists against the wall and sent her energy out again. “Taako!”

 

A hand grasped the handle and immediately she rolled her eyes. She knew that magic, and no thanks. Sorry, Merle. She sent him flying, relishing in the ability to do to  _ something _ and accidentally hitting him too hard. She winced, but trusted that Taako was impulsive and aloof enough to still pick up her umbrella. After all, he knew it was hers. He had fought with her when she first made it, he had to recognize it!  Sure enough, his hand touched the handle next and she sighed in relief. His magic felt familiar, so much like hers that it flowed into the umbrella and rejuvenated her, giving her enough strength to see out the umbrella. 

 

What she saw….was not what she wanted to see. Taako was examining the Umbrastaff, pure confusion in his eyes. Did he really not recognize it?  Could he not feel her inside? Did he not even recognize her skeleton? As she started to panic, she tried to remind herself that it  _ had _ been a very long time. Surely the memories would click soon and he would realize she was there. This was Taako after all, his memory was always a little flighty. She placed her hand lightly on the wall. 

 

“Taako, come on. It’s me!” She said, softer this time. Still he didn't respond. He lowered the Umbrastaff instead, following Magnus and Merle to the far wall of the cave, where the large vault was. What were they looking for, if not her?

 

If she still had a body, her blood would have run cold.  

 

They weren’t looking for her  _ gauntlet _ , were they?  Why would they be trying to find that, surely they remembered the destruction it had caused!  That was the whole reason she left!  But they couldn’t hear her, no matter how hard she tried, and so she couldn’t warn them.  Not until Taako got his head out of his ass and freed her.  Why was her brother such an idiot?

 

Lup heard another voice then, one that sounded nearly identical to that of the dwarf that killed her, Cyrus Rockseeker.  But it couldn't be him, she had locked him in the vault.  It had to just be a relative.  She listened to the story he was telling, chuckling when her brother revealed he had looted the bodies of Merle’s dead cousins in classic Taako fashion, and found that this was Gundren, Cyrus’s son.  He was opening the vault door for Magnus, Merle, and Taako.  Lup grit her teeth, wishing she was out there, wishing she could stop this.  The whole reason she  _ died _ was to stop the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet from destroying any more cities, and this dwarf surely would be drawn in by it’s thrall as easily as his father.  

 

As the three of them walked into the vault, Lup once again channeled as much of her energy as she could to see out of the umbrella.  She saw glass, the same black glass that heralded her creation, and knew immediately that the skeleton in the middle was Cyrus.  And there’s her gauntlet.  Held high in the air by scorched bones, still shining silver.  As beautiful and destructive as ever.  She wanted to yell at her boys to get the hell away, but she couldn't.  Even now, she’s being forced back into darkness as her energy runs out, but she managed to catch one last thing.  She sees Magnus walking right up to her gauntlet, reaching out (she knows deep down that he can’t be affected by the thrall but she’s still terrified), and then he highfives it.  The last thing she sees is him rearing back as the gauntlet burned him, and she laughs.  Even as she’s thrust back into the dark room of the umbrella, she hears Taako say, “Good going, dipshit!”, the roll of his eyes audible in his voice, and laughs harder.  

 

She had heard Gundren say that Cyrus had been gone for a decade, and realized that yes, it had been that long.  It had been ten years since that day on the Starblaster, when Taako did his Thong Song lipsync to cheer her up.  It had been ten years since she hugged her brother, since she’s held Barry.  Lup wanted now more than ever to get  _ out of this fucking umbrella _ .  

 

But then, she stopped.  She heard Gundren identify the body, but then Taako said something that made no sense.  

 

“Do you know anything about the glove that he’s wearing?” He said.  Did he really not recognize that?  Ok, the skeleton?  Lup can overlook that.  The Umbrastaff?  Weird, but still understandable.  Not recognizing the relic that Lup had created, the one he had watched destroy dozens of towns, the one he had assured her she had the right intentions in making?  Something was wrong here.  Something was wrong with Taako.  

 

Now, you can take a lot from Lup.  Take her world, take her soul, take her body, take her life, take her  _ fifteen dollars Greg Grimaldis _ , that's fine, she can deal.  But there was one thing that, since her childhood, she never let anyone mess with.  You mess with her brother?  She fucks you up.  Someone had messed with Taako, that much was clear.  She didn’t know how far this went, but she was gonna find out.  She just needed to find a way out of this staff, then Taako would surely recognize  _ her _ , and they could figure this out together.  Just like they’ve figured everything out.  

 

As Lup was having this train of thought, she vaguely realized that Taako was pointing the Umbrastaff at the gauntlet, and thought that maybe it was just a tactic to deceive Gundren.  That’s something Taako would do.  A sliver of hope found it’s way back inside Lup.  

 

The next thing she knew, an orc woman was telling everybody that the gauntlet was incredibly dangerous, and Lup wanted to cry in relief.  Yes!  Get them away from it!  Get everybody out of there and shut the fucking vault again!  

 

But she knew it was too late.  She could hear Gundren, she knows how her gauntlet sounds when it corrupts someone.  He’s already under the thrall.  If they don’t lock him in there…..it’ll be just like it was before Lup died.  She would have died for nothing.  

 

The orc, who Taako called Killian, was explaining what the gauntlet was.  Lup found it odd that this orc knew the full name of her relic, but if it got her idiot brother and party out of the vault she’d take it.  

 

“It’s called the Maraca sound.” Magnus says, and Lup’s dead lich heart sank.  Maraca sound?  Were they hearing static?  Who would have fed a voidfish anything about the relics?

 

But then Gundren put on her relic, and she had bigger things to worry about as he erupted in flames.  She could feel the fire, but not like she would if she was just next to a campfire.  She didn’t feel heat at all, in fact, but just pure magical energy.   _ Her  _ energy, infused with the Light of Creation, destroying this poor dwarf.  

 

Apparently Taako lost all his sense over the past decade, because he didn’t immediately run out of the room.  It took Killian telling them they needed to find Gundren before he destroyed the world before they realized how serious this was.  Lup sighed, leaning against the wall.  She had forgotten the negative effects of voidfish, how they can make you forget things.  She just remembered the songs they put in your head, the duet she put on with Barry, and the years and years of Magnus playing with Fisher.  Who had Fisher now, it couldn’t be Magnus.  He wouldn’t feed Fisher anything about the relics.  Did he know who had Fisher?  He had to, he had never let the baby voidfish out of his sight.  

 

Despite the terrible situation she’s in right now, and despite knowing that her relic is on its way to yet another innocent city, she laughed out loud when Magnus started high-fiving the cart, and when Taako got fed up and put him to sleep.  It just reminded her so much of the century they spent together, and the bullshit those three did.

 

She’s relieved when Taako, true to character, does jack shit in the battle with the ruffians, and she can just sit back and try not to focus on the fact that her gauntlet is being used again.  She stops listening to what’s happening outside, to conserve her little energy, and settles for feeling through Taako.  Thanks to their magical bond, when he’s holding the Umbrastaff, she can feel his emotions.  She’ll know when they reach Phandulin.  

 

And know she does, because suddenly Taako felt very nervous.  It’s not something he feels often, so Lup knew that Gundren had already started destroying the town.  She sighed, resigned but upset, as she once again starts listening around her.  She hears the fire, hears the boys, and wishes there was something she could do.  

 

Then, she hears him.

 

The one voice that she’s wanted to hear since Taako picked her up.  The one person she missed as much as she missed her brother.  

 

She hears  _ Barry _ .  At the sound of his voice, Lup extended her energy again, looking out and seeing him.  He was burnt a little, he was scared, but he was  _ there _ .  Alive, in a flesh body, with her brother.  Would he recognize her staff, did he know the gauntlet?  He doesn’t seem to, as his eyes passed right over her.  

 

Lup sighed.  That’s fine, it did just look like Taako was carrying an umbrella.  After ten years he was probably just looking for  _ her _ , not her weapon.  At least he kept his wits, telling the boys that they couldn’t fight Gundren.  They had two options right now.  Talk him down, or get the hell out of there.  And knowing Magnus, he wasn’t running away.  

 

God, she hated to say it but Merle was their best option here.  If she was out of the umbrella, she could probably get the gauntlet to calm down and release Gundren, given some time, but as she’s mentioned before?  She’s kinda stuck.  

 

But then Gundren calms down, and she’s cheering for Merle, because he did it!  He broke the thrall of the gauntlet!  She can feel that the fire has died down, the gauntlet itself was calm now.  She’ll admit it, she didn’t think Merle would be able to do it.  But, if there’s one thing that dwarf is, its earnest.  She remembered the day on the beach when he gave everybody a gift, and how they were  _ so terrible _ but he was so proud of each one he gave.  In hindsight, she regretted throwing his awful shower cap on the ground, now that he was so close to being killed by her gauntlet.  

 

She was just starting to calm down herself, breathing deep in the darkness and relishing in the fact that she couldn’t hear fire outside anymore, when-

 

_ -THUNK _

 

A roar echoed through the umbrella’s chamber, and she heard Taako say, “Oh no.”

 

Lup slapped her hand against the black curtained wall.

 

“Who the fuck attacked him?” She shouted.  She stretched her energy  _ yet again _ to see outside, and was almost sent reeling.  This would be the last time she saw anything for a while.  She managed to catch some glimpses though, and saw a small orc boy with a bow.  Lup hissed, what was that boy thinking?  Shooting an angry, magically flaming dwarf is not a smart idea.  She turned and looked to the side, watching her brother and then watching Barry.  Seeing them together was something she’d wanted for a long time.  Well, for about ten years.

 

She smiled softly, staring at Barry.  She had missed both of them so much.  Then a fist materialized out of flame, and time seemed to slow as it descended on Barry.  She screamed, her vision of the outside flickering as he’s crushed into the ground.  Deep down, she knew he was fine, she knew his lich form would appear soon and he would be unharmed.  But she wasn’t thinking about that.  She was just thinking that the first time she sees him in ten years, she’s trapped in her own umbrella and he just died before she could tell him she was here.  And now she was hearing Magnus being a  _ goddamn _ hero and not wanting to leave the townsfolk.  She couldn’t see Gundren anymore, but she could feel the fire getting stronger, and she knew what was coming.  She remembered seeing it happen multiple times before.  A perfect circle of black glass.  Lup clutched her legs to her chest, almost glad that she didn’t have the energy to see.  She couldn’t watch it again, she couldn’t see it happen, knowing she was responsible and knowing that she almost succeeded in locking the gauntlet away forever.  Another town was going to die at the hands of her creation, the one she had failed in keeping hidden.  

 

This was her fault.

 

“Well I’m not leaving without Barry.” She heard Taako say, and she laughed through the tears forming in her eyes.  There were six people in the world that she knows Taako wouldn’t leave to die, and of course the one that he refuses to leave now is the one that is gonna be fine.  She briefly wondered how much closer Taako and Barry were after ten years of searching for her.  If only they realized she was right here.  

 

She felt it as the fire erupted from her gauntlet, stronger because of her close proximity, and she buried her head in her knees.  She didn’t realize she was crying until the fire had died down, and she could picture the glass that Phandulin had become.  She had tried so hard to stop this from ever happening again, and she had failed.  

 

She faintly recognized that Taako was moving, and she could feel her gauntlet getting closer.  Was he….was he moving towards it?  That  _ fucking  _ idiot.  She got anxious as he moved closer, she was waiting for him to pick it up.  Sure, she knew that since he made a relic it didn’t affect him the same way, but she was used to seeing everybody around it get sucked into the thrall.  If Taako got corrupted by her gauntlet, she would never forgive herself.  

 

She could tell when he picked it up, and her heart started racing.  She braced herself, just in case, and when Taako tossed it in his bag she gave an audible sigh of relief.  She didn’t know what he was going to do with it, or why Killian had wanted it, but as long as Taako had it in his bag they were safer.  Lup tuned out the conversation that followed with Killian, although she heard enough to know that the boys were hearing static.  Sure enough, they couldn’t hear the words Grand Relics, and apparently Killian worked for a group that was trying to collect them?  Obviously this group had Fisher, but how did they get it from Magnus, and did they make him forget it?  That’s just cruel.  

 

As the boys got into a sphere that Killian had summoned, she stopped listening and just focused on the silence inside the umbrella.  For the first time, it was actually comforting.  It stopped the noises of the fire from reverberating in her head.  If she could meditate, that would help with the noises, but she didn’t feel comfortable trying to meditate.  She was afraid the umbrella would consume her completely if she didn’t concentrate.  She had been concentrating for ten years, and she was almost ready to give up when Taako found her.  She can’t give up now, he needs her, and once she gets out she’ll help him find Fisher so he remembers the relics.  

 

He has to remember.  He might need her, but she needs him too.  

 

She didn’t know where they were going, but she’d be by her brother every step of the way.  


	2. Moonlighting: The Director, Revealed

To be honest, Taako completely forgot about the umbrella he found in Wave Echo Cave.  With all that happened after, Gundren using Glovey (apparently it’s actual name was the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet) to destroy Phandulin, he had a lot on his mind.  Now he was in some weird moon base, drank the shit of a giant jellyfish, and was talking to a woman who seemed already fed up with their shit.  The Director met them all of, what, twenty seconds ago?  

 

Actually yeah that's enough time for someone to be fed up with the three of them. 

 

The umbrella hasn’t even done anything, and if the Director had never heard of it before it really couldn’t be that powerful.  Taako would just stick to his wand for now.  He put the umbrella in his bag, and promptly forgot about it again.  

 

* * *

 

Lup was trying not to listen.  She really,  _ really,  _ needed to rest and get her energy back, otherwise she would never be able to help Taako.  But apparently he was on some sort of moon?  What the fuck was this organization?  She really couldn’t help herself.  She was trying to listen on and off though, so her energy didn’t deplete too fast.  

 

What she did hear though...it made no sense.  This Bureau of Balance or whatever, obviously it wanted the relics, but to what end?  Whoever’s in charge had to have been under the thrall of one relic and wanted more, which meant Lup needed to stop the boys from handing her gauntlet over.  

 

As she sat in the darkness of the Umbrastaff, she let herself relax a bit as the music from the bard (She thought she heard his name was Johann) echoed around her.  It was gorgeous.  It was...the best song she’d ever heard.  Well, second only to her own duet with Barry, that is.  Nothing will ever be better than that.  Johann kept playing, and playing, and when it ended, Lup had tears in her eyes.  She hadn’t cried happy tears in a long time, but that’s exactly what these were.  Even as she heard an elevator ding outside and the music stopped, the tears kept flowing.  She finally let out how happy she was that Taako found her.  That she has her brother back, and once she gets out she’ll really be reunited.  That he was still with Magnus and Merle, and that Barry was fine (even if he was now down a corporeal form).  She hasn’t felt this happy since the Best Day Ever, since long before they made the relics.  

 

Then all of that is wiped away as she hears the boys talking about a giant tank.  She looks out of the umbrella, just for a quick second, and sure enough it’s Fisher.  She thought she saw it reach a tentacle towards Magnus, but she wasn’t sure.  She didn’t look long enough to know for sure.  But she could tell, just from listening, that Magnus couldn’t tell it was there.  Someone had wiped Magnus’s memory of Fisher, probably not on purpose but still did it, and that was just wrong.  She could clearly picture in her mind the look on Magnus’s face as he carried Fisher around the Starblaster on his shoulder.  He was so fond of it.  Well, good news, once he drinks the water he should remember it, right?  That’s how it worked, right?  

 

Then why wasn’t he remembering?  Lup could hear Magnus talking about the ‘jellyfish god’, but he never mentioned it’s name, or how happy he had to have been to see it again.  She pushed her hands against the side of the wall, wishing she could help Magnus.  Why didn’t he remember?  He remembered the relics, so why not Fisher?  What else was taken from him?  And how?  

 

What else was taken from Taako?

 

No, she couldn’t think about that, she had to stay positive or she’d lose herself.  She just had to get the fuck outta here and everything would be fine.  She heard Johann talking about someone called The Director, and braced herself.  This Director had to be under the thrall, but Lup had no idea what she’d do once they appeared.  It’s not like she could burst out of the umbrella whenever she wanted, if that was the case she’d be out as soon as she heard Taako’s voice.  And it’s not like Taako would just attack this new Director, so really, Lup had no way of fixing this in her present situation.  

 

And if this Director got even more relics, well then-

 

“Welcome, the three of you, to the Bureau of Balance.”  A voice rang through the umbrella, a voice that shook Lup to her core, a voice that sounded so much older, so much emptier than it did the last time she had heard it.  So much different from when it was laughing at a stupid joke Taako had told, or reluctantly accepting a gift from Merle, or helping Magnus read to Fisher, or asking Barry questions about the plane they were in, or playing cards with Davenport, or shyly asking Lup and Taako to teach it’s owner how to cook.

 

Lup couldn’t believe her ears.  But the voice was still talking, like she didn’t know who she was talking to.  Talking about payment, the gauntlet, and then Lup couldn’t take it anymore.  She had to see that she was wrong, that the voice wasn’t…..

 

Lucretia.  Sure enough, as Lup looked outside, there she was.  Standing on a dais, wearing robes as white as snow, her face gaunter and older than Lup had ever seen it.  And there, in her hand, the Bulwark Staff.  Her own relic.  Why did she have that?  

 

Lup sighed, sadness filling her chest. She knew Lucretia, and after spending a century with her she could read her like one of her journals. Lucretia looked so sad, her eyebrows were raised in the way that they always were when she was trying not to cry. But there was a small smile on her face. Then she clapped her hands and called out a name. 

 

“Davenport!” She called, and Lup’s breath hitched. Davenport was here too?  But….why was he letting Lucretia take back the gauntlet?  He was in favor of scattering the relics in the first place. The gnome ran into view, holding out some sacks of gold to the boys. 

 

“Davenport!” He said. Lup stared at him in disbelief. This was no captain in front of her. This was a shell of the man she’d known. She waited for Taako to make a joke to Lucretia like he always did, maybe call her ‘Cretia (she always pretended that annoyed her). She waited for Magnus to crush his good friend Cap’nport in a hug. She waited for Merle to make a joking comment about his muscles, start off one of the numerous ‘gun contests’ she’d judged over the years. Most of all, she waited for Davenport to say something other than his name, or for Lucretia to treat the boys like the family Lup knew they had become. 

 

None of that happened. Lup was forced to face the truth.  Magnus, Merle, and Taako didn’t recognize Lucretia or Davenport. Davenport didn't recognize the boys, and couldn't say anything except his name. And Lucretia….

 

Lucretia knew everything. Lup could see it in her eyes. She could see the pain in them as Lucretia introduced herself as the Director, and refused to tell the boys her name. Lup placed her hand against the wall, staring Lucretia down through the confines of her Umbrastaff. 

 

“Lucretia, what have you done?” She asked. She honestly didn't know if she wanted an answer. She was still in shock.  At least the mystery of how the Bureau got Fisher was solved, but this opened a whole new can of beans.  All this, Taako not recognizing her gauntlet, maybe even him not recognizing her staff, was Lucretia?  How much did she make them forget?  They didn't remember her, that much is clear, but did they remember the Starblaster journey?  

 

A thought hit Lup like a blast of her own magic. She was gone, at the time, when Lucretia did whatever she did. Did she- Did Taako- 

 

Did he remember her at all?

 

Did Lucretia not only erase the memory of Lup’s relic, did she erase  _ Lup? _

 

Lup’s hand began flickering in and out of existence, and her vision to the outside turned black. Her breathing was short pants, and if she was in her lich form in the outside world there would be lightning around her.  She could feel the pull of the Umbrastaff threatening to consume her magic completely, and she tried to calm herself down.  She had to trust that Lucretia would never to do that to Taako.  She would never take his sister away.  Taako probably just gave up searching for her after ten years, since he didn’t remember her gauntlet and therefore couldn’t think to track the glassings up to the last one, where she recovered her relic.  

 

When she was calm enough to listen again, she heard Lucretia talking about destroying the relics, and Lup’s eyebrows narrowed.  With their memories altered the way they were, the boys wouldn’t know about the Light of Creation, but Lucretia did.  It couldn’t be destroyed.  She knew that.  What was she playing at?

 

“Well, listen.  I’m but a simple idiot wizard.  Um, could you tell us a bit about-”

 

“No, don’t sell yourself short.” Lup could hear the hidden distress in Lucretia’s voice as she cut Taako off.  Lup hated hearing that too, but maybe Lucretia would realize that taking the memories of all the good he did was a shitty idea.  Taako was never an idiot, he was the most competent wizard she knew (second only to herself, of course).

 

“No, he’s not, it’s pretty accurate.” Magnus said, and Lup froze in confusion.  The Magnus she knew would never let Taako degrade himself like that, he would come up with something really heroic that Taako did so that he felt better.  Like, sure they all teased each other about a whole bunch of shit, but this was different.  Lucretia didn’t only take the memories of the Starblaster away, she took their friendship.  Their camaraderie, their brotherhood, the bonds they made over the century.  

 

How could she do that?  Surely she could tell she made a mistake, right?

 

Lup could hear them talking about destroying the relic again, and so she gathered her energy and let herself watch, to see if she could tell what was going on.  Taako had just put her gauntlet in some metal sphere, which was now being rolled into a large open room.  She watched as spears of light pierced the ball, but that gauntlet wasn’t just magical.  It was made with a portion of the Light of Creation, and nothing could destroy that.  Even when they didn’t recover it and the Hunger got it, it just reformed in the next plane.  As the sphere lowered to the floor, Lup knew that it couldn’t have worked, that her gauntlet was still inside. 

 

But when the ball was opened, it was gone.  Lup curled her hands into fists and banged on the wall.  What was Lucretia doing with the relics if not destroying them?  Why was she lying to the boys, to  _ Davenport _ ?  Lup’s original thought that the Director was under the thrall didn’t apply anymore, but she still didn’t understand why Lucretia would be gathering the relics. 

 

“That gauntlet you just destroyed is responsible for some of the worst atrocities our world has ever known.” Lucretia said, looking awfully happy, and Lup scowled.   _ Thanks _ , Lucy, it’s not like Lup didn’t already know that.  She’d been beating herself up over that stupid gauntlet since she fucking made it.  

 

She heard Magnus ask if she knew anything about the umbrella the three had found, and her ears perked up, waiting to see what Lucretia would say.  

 

“Um, no, but uh, but our artificer might.” Lup could see the pain in her eyes again, the happiness from ‘destroying’ the gauntlet vanishing.  Lucretia knew perfectly well that the Umbrastaff was Lup’s, knew that Taako didn’t know that, and she said  _ nothing _ .  When Lup got out of here, Lucretia had some explaining to do.  

 

“The Phoenix Fire Gauntlet is a very special, extremely powerful magic item.” Lucretia continued.  “It is a weapon that was created by a band of wizards, warlocks, and other magic-users who refused to limit themselves.”  Well that was bullshit.  They were created to try and save the world!  Sure, they didn’t really succeed, but they never ‘refused to limit themselves’.  “They refused to rein in their- their experimentation, uh, if you will, and that resulted in the creation of what we call the grand relics.”

 

Lup stopped listening.  Lucretia was just...twisting the truth so badly, making them out to be the bad guys!  It’s not like they wanted these relics to hurt people!  She thought back to the night she left the Starblaster, and she could still hear Taako’s words in her head. 

 

_ “You know, sometimes there aren’t right decisions.  Sometimes there’s just...decisions.” _

 

Lup had ten years of emptiness to accept that they had done the best thing for this plane.  Lucretia obviously still thought they hadn’t.  But just gathering the relics wouldn’t do anything, and even if she managed to get the Light out of them, all that would do is bring the Hunger.  What would she even want with the full Light, it’s not like-

 

“Oh Lucy...” Lup sighed, the truth finally clicking.  Lucretia was trying to make her bubble around this plane, but she needed the whole Light to do so.  She still refused to accept that her plan would sever every bond in this material plane.  It might do even more damage than the relics.  Lup was still mad, yes, Lucretia went about this the complete wrong way, but at least Lup knew what she was doing now.  Lup knew her plan, and could hopefully stop it before the Hunger arrives.  

 

* * *

 

Was Taako the bravest of the group?  Probably fucking not, but that’s what they told the Director.  Which was why he found himself on the floor of a large arena, surrounded by three massive ogres.  But, you know, he was fine.  Taako was always fine. Meanwhile, Magnus got to rip arms off robots, and Merle got to  _ not _ be afraid for his life and just shoot potions at the ogres.  Taako was doing pretty well, if he did say so himself.  He stole a gem, shot some oversized magic missiles, broke his wand, and got paralyzed because Magnus couldn’t keep a robot away from a button.  

 

But now he was staring down a large green ogre, who looked pretty worse for wear, and he had no weapon.  

 

Suddenly, something in his bag started rattling.  His bag itself was moving, if only slightly, and it felt warmer.  He reached his hand inside, and it wrapped around the wooden handle of an umbrella.  

 

The umbrella?  Sure, it was magical, but unless it functioned like a wand it wasn’t gonna be much help here.  Nonetheless, magical energy seemed to be flowing from it.  It was strong, that much was certain, but also...familiar?  Why?  

 

He followed his instinct, pointing the umbrella at the remaining ogre, and casting his trusty magic missile.  The umbrella opened, and when he fired, he could feel that this spell was stronger than normal.  It slammed into the ogre, knocking it back a few feet, and it fell to the ground.  Dead.  

 

Honestly not that surprising, most things Taako comes in contact with end up dead.  What was surprising is that the umbrella was a lot more powerful than it looked.  

 

He gripped the handle tighter, and as he heard the Director speak overhead, the energy in the umbrella receded.  He didn’t know why, but he felt himself missing it.  

 

* * *

 

Lup slumped back against the wall, energy almost gone.  It was risky, using so much of her energy to strengthen Taako’s spell, but his wand broke!  What else was she supposed to do?  At least now he knows the Umbrastaff is a weapon, maybe he’ll absorb some magic with it and Lup can get stronger.  

The only real downside to using all that energy and saving Taako is that now she can’t even hear.  If Lucretia told them anything else, anything that might help Lup, she wouldn’t know.  She is now utterly, and literally, in the dark.  Again.  She just has to trust that Taako can keep himself safe for a little longer, until she’s strong enough.  

 

Who is she kidding, they’re all gonna die.


	3. Murder on the Rockport Limited: An Early Escape

Taako didn’t know what was happening.  Something weird had started as soon as he found that Umbrastaff, and it was getting worse the longer he had it.  He would make a joke, or a cool one-liner, and he kept expecting to hear another laugh in the room with him.  One that he couldn’t hear in his head, and he didn’t know who it belonged to or why he thought he should be hearing it.  Then, the night before they were supposed to go on their next mission (although they didn’t know that at the time), he felt the unmistakable urge to cook something.  He hadn’t touched a stove since Glamour Springs, but that night he did.  And halfway through mixing the ingredients, he found himself sliding the bowl along the counter before he was finished, and moving to preheat the oven.  It’s almost like he expected someone else to be there?  Why would there be anyone else with him, Taako always cooked alone?  After that, he threw out what he had been making and sat meditating in his room.  The weirdest part was that these things only happened when the staff was in the same room as him.

He needed some time to figure out if he was going crazy or not, but apparently it was in the rules of the B.O.B that missions had to come at the most inopportune times.  

As the three of them flew down to Rockport in the cannonball, Taako didn’t notice his hand wrapping around the handle of the Umbrastaff.  When he did notice, he tried to ignore how comforting it was.

 

* * *

 

Lup saw time speed by as her friends were introduced into the Bureau. Unfortunately Taako did not spend much time near Lucretia, so Lup couldn’t get any information that way. So she simply focused. Gathering her energy so that she could attempt to communicate with Taako. 

 

At this point, Lup had resigned herself to the fact that Taako wasn’t remembering the Umbrastaff.  She was pretty sure he wouldn’t, thanks to Lucretia, which means he wouldn’t think to free her.  If she could just find another way out, Taako would see her and everything would be okay again.  Lucretia may have taken the Umbrastaff from him, which fucking sucked, but she would never take Lup away.  Not from Taako.  

 

So she waited, not wanting to expend as much energy as she did during Taako’s trial so she could keep watching him.  The three of them seemed to do okay on their own against those leeches.  Of course, not interfering didn't mean she wasn’t keeping a running commentary from inside the umbrella.  

 

“How much fucking blood do you have?” She shouted at Merle as he nonchalantly watched a leech drain his arm.  Sure the dwarf had taken some hits before but this was a  _ lot  _ of blood.  

 

She was about to cheer for Taako casting a pretty dope thunderwave until she realized he was slowly sinking into mud, and opted for a sigh and a face-palm instead. She didn’t stop face-palming in regards to her brother until the battle was over, as he did absolutely nothing else except finally levitate out of the swamp.

 

“How the hell did you survive ten years without me?” She sighed, knowing full well that if she had been free from the umbrella for those ten years and also without Taako, she’d probably be the same way.  

 

And then….then….the fucking town of Tom Bodetts.  She was just….in shock and disbelief that this town even existed that she had no comments for once in her life.  Why?  Why was this a thing?  Yeah, she’d seen some weird ass planes in their long journey but never a plane filled with just the same person over and over.  Frankly it was a little creepy.  The baby Tom Bodetts especially, those were just unnatural.  

 

But then, finally, they were on the train.  Lup tried to feel for the relic, Davenport’s Oculus, but it was way in the cargo car in an unopenable box.  That just spelled  _ great  _ things for the three boys.  At least all they had to do was get to Neverwinter.  Luckily Taako kept the Umbrastaff with him, not giving it up with their other weapons, so she could still keep an eye on them.  Not that anything really seemed to be happening, they were just meeting the attendant of the train.  Apparently he was a wizard, but he didn’t use his magic to carry an extremely heavy axe?  Kind of a shitty wizard in Lup’s opinion.  

 

“Kind of a shitty wizard.” She heard Taako mutter, and she couldn’t help but laugh. Even when she’s stuck in a fucking umbrella, they’re still thinking alike.  She wished she was out there so she could help Taako wreck Jenkins, but he seemed to be doing a pretty good job on his own.  The bit with the carrots?  Classic Taako.  

 

And then, well, the boys laughing in Jenkins’s face as he had a mental breakdown?  Reminded Lup of one of the early cycles, when literally anything you said to any of the crew would set them laughing hysterically.  Davenport soon realized it was something in the air of the plane they were in, and eventually the air on the Starblaster was clean so they could have actual conversations again.  

 

After that, she didn’t hear anything really interesting for a while.  Well, she was intrigued by the pleasure chamber, but in her present condition she couldn’t do anything about that. The only time she really stopped concentrating on storing energy was when the three started talking to a little boy.  

 

“My name is Angus, I’m a little boy.” He said, and Lup laughed a little.  She liked this kid.  

 

“He’s the bad guy!”  She heard Magnus whisper.  She rolled her eyes, leaning back against the wall.

 

“Oh come on, Mags.” Lup said, smiling.  “He’s a little kid.”  

 

She knew Magnus was a sucker for cute things, like dogs and young kids and also more dogs, and this kid was adorable.  Although, he did beat Merle’s zone of truth, which he probably shouldn’t be able to do at ten years old (Lup assumed he was around ten), but he didn’t strike Lup as evil.  And Lup considered herself quite a good judge of a person’s Evil level.  

 

As the three boys walked away from Angus, Lup wished she was strong enough to waste her energy on disguise spells, because she would totally cast one on Angus and make his eyes turn blood red.  But she had just enough energy for one powerful spell, and she figured she’d need it before this adventure was over.  It was inevitable that they’d get into a fight.  Those three could get into a fight with anyone while on their own.  Together, well….Lup could see it coming.  Then the conversation with Graham happened, and Lup grew confused.

 

“Don’t you recognize me from TV?” Taako had laughed, and Lup thought he was joking.  But then Graham actually  _ had _ recognized him.  That was what shook Lup.  Taako was never on TV, if he was then they wouldn’t have lived on the streets for half their life.  Unless it happened in the past ten years, Taako certainly had the personality to become famous in that amount of time, but how fast did he give up looking for her?  A year after she disappeared?  Two?

 

Sure, she was so happy he moved on, she was happy he made a life for himself without her, but she was still a little upset.  It was the ‘without her’ part that bothered her.  They spent the first century of their life with only each other to trust, to confide in.  When she told him she was a girl, his only question was if he could do her hair.  When he cast his first spell, Lup was the only one around to congratulate him.  When their aunt died, she had grabbed his hand and they had run off together.  She needed him.  The memories of him kept her together those years in the Umbrastaff, he kept her whole.  Was there an empty part of him that still called for her, like hers called for him?  If Taako had disappeared, Lup would have worked herself to death trying to find him, and then continued in her lich form.  She figured Taako would do the same.  

 

What had happened to make him give up on her?  To have him go his own way without Lup beside him?  

 

It was just another question to ask when she got out.  She had so many questions.  

 

Lup realized she had zoned out while thinking about all this, and that Taako, Magnus, and Merle were all standing in a beautiful garden.  Well, for some reason Magnus was peeing in a corner?  She shrugged.  He’d done weirder.  Looking out the Umbrastaff she realized that the three of them were in Jenkins’s pleasure chamber, and felt a pang of longing.  If she was out, where would she go?  This room could take her anywhere.  Could it take her to another plane?  Well, wait, no, those planes were all gone.  Consumed by the Hunger.  Lup sighed.  She hadn’t spent enough time on this plane to know where she wanted to go.  The only place she wanted to be was with Taako, but she was and she wasn’t happy.  They were together, but still so far apart.  And who the hell knew where Barry was, floating around all red and spooky and adorable.

 

“Hello sirs, how was your trip?” She heard Angus McDonald say.  She started half-paying attention, pulling herself up so she was standing.  She had spent too much time moping already, she had to be ready.  The boys chatted with Angus a little more, and Lup started to inadvertently zone out again.  

 

“No, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.  What are your guys’ real names?” 

 

Lup snapped back to reality.  What?  She used a small bit of energy to look outside, frowning.  The boys all looked confused, and Angus as innocent as ever, but his hand was on his book protectively.  

 

“What do you mean, Pumpkin?” Taako asked, and Angus looked up at them.

 

“I mean, what are the names that aren’t fake that you guys actually have?”

 

Magnus whispered again that he didn’t trust Angus, and this time Lup could see some merit in that.  If she was free, she would have done some cool fire tricks and some detect magic, figured out what the fuck was up with the book Angus was practically clutching now, and get the kid to talk without actually hurting him, but no.   _ These  _ chucklefucks were in charge.  So, obviously, the most productive point of action is to grab the book from the kid’s hands and wave it over him tauntingly.  And play monkey in the middle with it, apparently.  Honestly what did she expect.  These three need a competent woman around to get anything done, Lucretia should have known that. 

 

“Um, you know what?  Here.”  She heard, and peeking out she saw Taako toss the book back to Angus.  The three of them then followed the boy into his car on the train, and Lup watched as Angus sat down across from them, eyeing them carefully.  

 

“My name is Angus McDonald. That part you already know. Uh, I am, and I’m not being braggy, because I-- my grandpa says not to do that, but I am the world’s greatest detective.”  

 

Lup rolled her eyes.  She couldn’t quite look up but she was positive all three of the boys were doing the same thing.  Angus scoffed lightly.  

 

“Ok.  I mean I- I did detective good enough to see through your horseshit, so I can’t be too bad.”

 

Something about a ten-year old boy saying ‘horseshit’ so professionally, while wearing that fancy outfit, made Lup burst out laughing.  She sat there, chuckling, as Angus explained the Rockport Slayer case and asked for the boys help.  Personally, if those boys weren’t practically (and literally) her family, she would never ask them to do anything, ever, but Angus was a little kid.  He had a lot to learn.  

 

Although, Magnus did do a good job explaining the importance of the relic without mentioning the relics themselves.  The boys kept fucking with Angus, what a shocker, until a noise made Lup’s ears perk up.  It was a shriek, coming from down the train.  The four of them ran out of the room, Taako almost forgetting the Umbrastaff, and by extension Lup, in his hurry.  She liked to think her yelling had something to do with him coming back for it.  Did he still remember her voice?  

 

Lup didn’t have the greatest view from where Taako was holding the umbrella, but there was no mistaking the giant pool of blood seeping out from under the door between cars.  And once the door opened, even Lup recognized the rainbow bowtie around the neck of the headless corpse.  Damn, she was looking forward to finding Jenkins again once she was free and making fun of him some more.  But then she heard her brother making fun of him anyway, even though his dead body was right there, so that made up for it.  

 

Lup sensed the monster before Angus did, perks of becoming a being of pure arcane energy, but she couldn’t see where it was to attack it.  So, rather than unleash her stored up spell energy into a fiery death blast of  _ pure epic _ , she sat there.  She let Angus shoot at it, and then finally Taako moved enough for her to see the giant crab-like creature.  She started to channel the energy, her hands heating up and glowing, but then Angus dragged that other wizard’s unconcious body outside the car and Taako followed him without a glance backwards.  

 

“Taako get the fuck back in there!”  She yelled.  “I’ve got this, dingus!”

 

But Taako didn’t even pause.  Luckily, Magnus and Merle were following him, so he didn’t just trap his friends in the other room.  Merle started arguing to go back in the car, trying to drag Taako with him for more offensive magic, but Taako just swung the Umbrastaff up onto his shoulder and cocked a hip in a very Taako TM pose.  Actually, it was a very Lup TM pose, since she was pretty sure she looked exactly like that when she first showed Taako the Umbrastaff.

 

“I wanna tell you a story about the time that there were three ogres, right?” Taako started arguing back.  “And then one of them hit me so hard I almost  _ died _ . You were sitting up in some sort of weird laser, just shooting flasks willy-nilly, and Travis was ripping the arms off of robots, and I got  _ punched _ so hard I almost died! I’m not gonna go toe-to-toe with a crab while you’re armed with a terrible Scottish accent, and Travis doesn’t even have his shield! I’m out! I mean-- Did I say Travis? I mean Leeman Kessler.” Taako finished awkwardly, somehow getting Magnus’s name wrong twice.  Lup sighed, wishing she could communicate to her  _ dumbass brother _ that just like with the ogres, she had a spell ready to help him.  

 

But the boys just kept running from the crab monster, until they were confronted by it in one of the cars.  Lup wanted to help, she could end this pretty quickly, but something told her that now wasn’t a good time.  She just had a gut feeling that there was a more important battle later.  However, hearing and watching the crab hurt Taako was just...well she almost cast her spell anyway.  However, in a shining moment of competency, Taako cast Levitate on the crab and Lup grinned.  

 

“Knock it out!  Of the train!” Taako shouted to Magnus, who immediately put his fists up, ready.  Lup leaned against the black curtains. 

 

“Now  _ that's _ an idea, bro.” She said, tenting her fingers under her chin as she watched the battle unfold.  She was incredibly proud of Taako for that plan, it's pretty unconventional, but it’s just the type of plan one of them would come up with.

 

Magnus ran forward and punched the crab in the side, sending it flying towards the window of the train car, and as it’s claws found purchase on the wall he punched it again.  It crashed through the glass and shot down the side of the train, Lup could hear the screeching of metal as it dug it’s claws into the wall of the train.  It wasn’t dead, but for now the battle was on hold.  

 

They made their way through the cars, trying to find the crab, and they passed through the incinerated remains of the room where Jenkins was killed.  Lup stopped looking out while she was in that room, it reminded her of what she saw just a few days ago in Phandulin.  When they finally did find the crab, it was floating helplessly in the middle of the car.  At first the second half of the battle was pretty uneventful, but when the crab shot a jet of flames at them, the three were forced to leap into a sleeper car off to the side.  Lup could feel it was time.  Her whole body (or...spectre?  Spirit?  whatever) started to spark as she readied her spell.  She grinned, she hadn’t cast a  _ real _ spell in so long, she was ready for this.  The next time Taako attacked, no matter what spell he tried to cast, she was gonna obliterate this stupid crustacean.  In the meantime, she had to think of a cool one liner for when she did it.  Maybe no one would hear it, but it was the principle of the thing.  He was too  _ crabby _ ? No.  He needed to  _ krill _ out?  Ugh, that’s not even crab related.  

 

Lup was cut short by Taako lifting up the Umbrastaff.  She could feel his own magic starting to form a spell, but she grinned.

 

“Sorry Koko, it’s my time to shine.” 

 

As he reached his arm outside the door, Lup looked out to aim her spell.  What she didn’t expect was to see the crab a lot closer to the door than it was earlier.  She faltered, as suddenly it was right in front of the umbrella.  She screamed to Taako, but he still didn’t hear her, he just kept trying to cast his spell.  Lup grit her teeth and thrust her hand forward at the crab, letting  her spell loose.  But in the instant before the spell left her being, the crab reached out a pincer and time seemed to slow to a crawl for Lup as it snapped the Umbrastaff in half.  

Immediately, a wave of energy stronger than any spell she’d ever cast exploded out of her, ricocheting across the room and rolling over the crab.  It was reduced to ash in milliseconds, scattering in the wind still roiling from Lup.  The wind and fire destroyed the entire train car, decimating the sleeper cars to the side, except the one that Taako, Merle, and Magnus were inside.  It took her a second to realize that she wasn’t in the staff anymore.  She looked down, seeing the familiar red robe around her skeletal features, her bony hands, and she almost wanted to cry.  It had been so long.  She was free.  She was  _ free _ !!  

She turned to the door of the only sleeper car left unscathed, and saw Taako, Magnus, and Merle peeking out from behind it, eyes wide.  Lup smiled as wide as she possibly could, knowing that you couldn’t really tell if she was smiling when she was a lich, and spread her arms wide.

“Don't look so  _ shellshocked _ lil’ brother!  I told you I’d be back soon.” She said, waiting patiently for Taako to grin back.  She waited for him to laugh, to say she was actually the little sibling, to cry maybe, to say her name, to say  _ anything _ , to do anything but look at her in what was now obviously fear.  The only other time that she had seen him look this scared was when she had become a lich in the first place, and that she had fixed with a dab, but she didn’t think that would work this time.  That time he was scared  _ for  _ her. Her smile dropped.

“Taako?  It’s me, Lup.” She said, watching his face carefully.  If anything, he just got more confused.  Magnus was the first to move, leaning in closer to the others.

“It’s one of those Red Robes that the Director told us about.” He stage whispered, and Lup frowned.  What had Lucretia told them?  Did she say they were evil?  

“Yeah, but it  _ came out of my staff _ .” Taako whispered back.  “How does it know my name?”

“Kinda sounds like you too.” Merle added.  

Lup floated there, silent and seething.  She didn’t.  She  _ didn’t _ .  Lucretia really did it.  She expected Merle and Magnus not to recognize her, what with Lucretia erasing all their memories of each other and the rest of the crew, but she had a little faith in Lucretia to not destroy Taako’s memories of her.  Did he remember having a sister, just not that she was a lich?  What the fuck did Lucretia take from him?  Did she take it all?  Taako turned and looked at her, and her heart would have stopped beating if she had one in this form.  It was so apparent in his eyes.  In the way his ears were almost flat against his head.  In the way his feet were jittering, his hands trying to keep them still.  Maybe the others couldn’t see it but she could read Taako like the back of her own hand, and he was so scared.  He was scared  _ of her _ .  

“Uhh, hail and well met, creepy ass robe dude, do I know you?” He asked, and Lup just felt herself start to crumble away.  It took all her willpower to stay in control and try again.  

“Koko, it’s me.  It’s Lup!   _ I’m your sister! _ ” Her form started to flicker and she felt the lightning around her streaking out towards the walls of the train car.  She clutched her head, digging her skeletal fingers into her skull, she couldn’t do this now!  This would just scare them more!!  

Lup needed to clear her head, she needed to confront Lucretia, she needed to stay and help Taako because now he didn’t have a weapon, but right now she needed to get  _ off this fucking train _ .  She looked up at Taako again, trying to find words to say to him, but nothing came to her.  So she turned around and flew straight through the window behind her, flying up and coming to a rest on top of the train.  The inner demons that came with the territory of being a lich were screaming at her for the first time since she became a lich all those cycles ago. Taunting her, begging her, enticing her.  Screaming at her to lose control. 

__**He doesn’t remember you**  
  


 

They said, hissing in her head.

 

_**None of them do** _

__

_**You saw them, they were terrified of you** _

__

_**He’ll never trust you again** _

__

_**You’re alone** _

__

_**Just let go and you won’t have to hurt anymore** _

__

_**Your power will let you get him back** _

 

_**We promise...** _

Lup pulled her hood down around her skeletal head and tried to block them out.  She couldn’t be around Taako, she couldn’t see that look on his face again, but she had to stay near him at least until he finished this quest.  Then she had a meeting with Lucretia.  

But first she had to get rid of the voices. She closed her eyes and lost herself in memories. 

* * *

Taako was confused as  _ fuck _ .  This train ride started out somewhat normal, with a shitty ass wizard attendant, a small boy detective, and a dangerous artifact in the cargo car.  Then a murder happened, and now this.  That fucking red robe thing came out of the Umbrastaff!  The Director had said all those guys were gone, and bad news. But...this one knew him?  By name?

It had to be a bluff. Just some trick by a sick fucker who wanted to mess with Taako. Not to mention he was still hearing static even though they had all been ‘inoculated’ or whatever. Those first words were weird enough, something staticy and then ‘I told you I’d be back soon’, but what haunted Taako, what caused his blood to chill and his heart to ache, was the last words. 

“ _ Koko, It’s me.  It’s Lup! I’m y̕͝o̷̸͘͢͜ų̛͟͝r̶̶̡̕ ̴̨̛͟s͘͠҉i̷̛͢͠s̡̧̛͘͝t͏̵e͟͢͠͞r̷͏̸̕ _ !!”

I’m what? What was the red robe saying?  The not knowing was terrible, and Taako really didn’t understand why he cared so much.  Most of all though, the thing that messed with Taako’s head was the names. Taako knew that if Magnus or Merle ever dared call him Koko, he would burn a spell slot on them, but when the red robe said it, it….filled something. Something inside of him that he didn't know was empty.  When he first saw that red robe, spiraling out of the halves of the Umbrastaff wreathed in flames like a resplendent phoenix, something in his chest swelled up.  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt that happy, but at what?  It had quickly turned to fear as the delight was consumed by something in his head.  

But then the red robe started flickering and shooting lightning, and it had looked at Taako.  Taako didn't know why or how, since it’s face was literally a skull, but it looked so  _ sad _ .  Then it flew out the window right as the door burst open, and Taako was distracted by Jess the Beheader running in.  She saw the red robe flying out the window, then the three of them hiding in the sleeper car, then the flaming ruins of the room around them, and she dropped the axe that was in her hands.  

“Wow I really fucked up my initiative roll, didn’t I.”  She said.  

That broke the tension in the room and Taako, Magnus, and Merle left the sleeper car to talk to Jess.  She explained that she was going to run in here and help fight the giant crab, but apparently they had taken care of that.  

“Uh, yeah, we totally took care of that.” Magnus said.  “It was all us, no one else.”  

Jess frowned at that, but then Magnus asked about her axe, which had seemingly disappeared, and she started up an intense conversation with him about it.  After that they made their way back to the passenger car to try and figure out the murder, but Taako was lost in his own world.  The others interrogated the Juicy Wizard, and Taako accused Jess of the murder, but his heart wasn’t really in it.  

The only thing really in his head was the red robe’s voice, a voice that sounded almost identical to his, saying ‘Koko’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is.....the au.....  
> we just really loved the concept of lup escaping the umbrastaff early, its So Good


	4. Murder on the Rockport Limited: An Early Confrontation

_Lup was thirty years old, a mere child, sitting by a fire in the woods with her brother.  They were on their way to their aunt’s house, she was going to raise them from now on.  Her head was leaning on her brother’s chest as he tried to braid some flowers into her hair._

_“Taako, you’re the best brother in the world.”  She said, and he grinned._

 

_“Fuck yeah I am.”_

 

_She hit him upside the head and he laughed._

 

_“Okay, okay, you’re obviously the best sister, Lulu.  No one can compare to us in the sibling competition.”_

 

_“We’re the best at everything!”  Lup cried, tackling her brother and starting to wrestle him.  “But I’m better than you!”_

 

_The sun was up when they stopped rolling around in the dirt.  Lup’s braid was gone, dirt was smeared across both their faces, and they were lying shoulder to shoulder, laughing at themselves._

 

_“We’ll be together forever, right Taako?” She asked, and Taako lightly smacked her._

 

_“Of course, goofus, where else would I go?”_

 

_Lup smiled and grabbed Taako’s hand._

 

_“You’re my heart, Taako. Don’t leave me.”_

 

_“I won't. And you’d better not leave me because you're mine too.”_

  
  


_Lup was fifty-five, and she and Taako just found their aunt’s dead body. They would cry, but neither of them really did that. Instead they were just staring at the body, a frying pan in Lup’s hand from trying to make dinner. They couldn't stay in this house, that much was clear. She looked at Taako, and he had the same expression on his face. Apprehension. She held out her hand._

 

_“Stay with me.” She said. He took it before a beat had passed._

 

_“Forever.”_

  
  


_Lup and Taako were one hundred and twenty-three, and had just been accepted into the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration, and had already been assigned a mission. They were sitting in the woods, one of their favorite spots, and celebrating._

 

_“To us!” They shouted, tossing homework into the fire. Lup shot fireballs at it every once in a while, just to keep it burning. Taako turned to her._

 

_“Well Lulu, we did it.” He said._

 

_“And we did it together.”_

 

_“Honestly how else do we do things?”_

 

_“True.” Lup laughed. “I’m real proud of you, Koko.”_

 

_“‘m proud of you too. I wouldn't have gotten through it without you.”_

 

_“What do I keep saying, dingus?  You’re my heart. I'm gonna help you with anything. Need math help? I'll totally fuckin’ steal you the money to hire a tutor. Need to hide a body?  I’m your gal.”  Lup said, grinning at Taako and handing him another notebook to burn._

 

_“Right back at you.”_

  
  


_Lup was….still one hundred and twenty-three? Probably?  This whole cycle thing messed her up. They didn’t age, right?  Well, she still looks great so whatever. She had just had the Best Day Ever, courtesy of her amazing brother, and she’ll never get over the catharsis of burning down an entire DMV.  She was sitting at the table, explaining to Taako the plan she had made with Barry. She would have asked Taako to join them and become a lich too, but she didn't want him to risk that._

 

_“Barry already gave me a day.”  She said, watching Taako carefully.  “And...I love him, Taako, with all my heart.  But you...I needed a day from you, because you are my heart.  You know that right?”_

 

_“Yeah.”_

 

_“You’re why I got here, and I’m why you got here, and that’s something that can’t be broken or lost or taken away.  It’s always going to be so important.”_

 

_Taako laughed nervously._

 

_“Well, lemme just say, bearing all that, I’m really happy I saved one last surprise: this very large bottle of Grey Goose. I— now don’t— I know— it wasn’t too much, I conjured it, again, but it should still get the job done.”_

 

_Lup laughed and accepted the bottle, but she mostly did it for Taako.  His hands weren’t moving, which meant his legs were moving, which meant he was nervous.  She didn’t want him nervous.  He was her brother, and she loved him more than anything._

  
  


Lup was older now, she had long since lost track of her age with the cycles and becoming a lich and the prison of the Umbrastaff, but nothing had changed for her.  Those memories, those words they repeated over the years, they still kept her together in her worst moments.  Now was no exception.  She relived snippets and clips from her life, with Taako, with Barry, with the whole crew, and soon the voices faded.  The dissonance screaming in her head backed off.  Her form stabilized.  She looked around her, at the scenery whizzing past as she rested on top of this train, and then up at the second moon she now knew was fake.  Sure, she was mad.  Pissed, even.  Maybe if she had more time after realizing Taako didn’t know her, like if she had realized it before being released, then she wouldn’t be as angry, but she couldn’t get his face out of her head.  His face, _her_ face, for the first time a broken mirror, frozen in fear.  But, she couldn’t just go confront Lucretia without making sure that all her boys were off the train safely.  Or at least not in danger of a murderer on the loose.  

 

Another perk to being a lich, Lup can go completely incorporeal.  Which means she can fly straight into the only inhabited room on the train that the boys can’t enter.  She didn’t think any of the other train passengers were guilty, especially not Angus, and so there really was only one option left.  The engineer.  

 

Lup floated up slightly, and poked her head through the ceiling of the passenger car where everyone was.  Taako, Magnus, and Merle were all interrogating the others, so Lup sighed and floated fast towards the front of the train.  She wasn’t sure if the engineer had anything to do with this, but she wasn’t sure he _didn't,_ so there was no harm in checking.  She landed on top of the engineer’s car and dropped through the ceiling, landing behind a figure at the controls of the train.  

 

“‘Sup.” She said, and the figure whirled around in surprise.  

 

“W-who are you?  How did you get in here?” He said, and Lup frowned.  That voice was very familiar.  So was his face.  She had watched and listened to that face having a mental breakdown about that very voice.  

 

Jenkins.  He wasn’t dead.  Which only meant one thing.  

 

“Are you the one who’s been trying to hurt my brother out there?” She asked.  Jenkins stepped backward, but his hand slipped into a pocket of his robe.  Lup’s hand burst into flame and his hand paused. Lup was very aware her form was probably smoking right now, but honestly the more scared Jenkins was the better.  She held up her flaming hand.  

 

“I’m gonna fuckin _ **g**_  ki ** _l_** l **_y_** ou n ** _ow_**.”  

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Taako didn’t know which was more shocking, that Jenkins was actually the murderous mastermind, or that _Merle_ was the one to figure it out.  The guy really hadn’t done much in the realm of useful shit in this adventure, so that was a real surprise.  However, they really needed to get to Jenkins.  Now that they knew he was alive, and holed up in the engineer’s compartment, they couldn’t let him get to Neverwinter.  

 

They trekked all the way back through the cars of the train, and as they passed through the wreckage of that one passenger car, Taako saw the two halves of the Umbrastaff lying on the ground.  

 

He waited for Merle and Magnus to pass, then picked them up, running his fingers over the handle.  What was this?  Why was that red robe inside of it?  He shook his head and put the pieces in his bag.  He wanted to throw them back on the ground, but something wouldn’t let him.  

 

By the time they reached the end of the train, Taako was ready to forget about that stupid red robe.  He was done wondering if he was missing something, because he was _Taako_.  He didn’t have to care about that kind of stuff, he was better than that.  The engineer’s door was still closed, but that wasn’t gonna stop the boys this time.  Taako opened his mouth to yell to Jenkins, but as he did the hair on his neck stood up.  His skin prickled with the telltale presence of strong magic, and Taako for sure knew that wasn’t Jenkins.  He grabbed Merle and Magnus by their collars.  

 

“Just...hold on a minute compadres.  Just a sec.”  He said.  He didn’t know what he was waiting for, just that he didn’t want to be near that door when it happened.  Seconds passed, and there was a mumbling inside the room, followed by a wave of heat.  Even through the closed door it was intense, and it blew the hat on Taako’s head awry.  He grinned.  That was her alright.  

 

Wait.  That was _who_?  For a fleeting second, Taako felt like he knew the person behind this, but the feeling was gone faster than it came.  Static replaced it.  

 

The door fell off its hinges then, revealing yet another blackened room with a charred corpse on the ground.  Taako swore in Elvish under his breath.  Floating in the middle of the room was the robe dude.  It tossed a wand-like thing their way and awkwardly raised a hand (could it still be called a hand if it was all bone?).  Was it staring at Taako?  He couldn’t tell.  

 

“So, Jenkins is dead for real now.  Dude really was a shitty wizard.  He, uh, I don’t really know how to drive a train, but he set this thing to go at full speed right now.  There’s his wand thing, I don’t know.  Good luck.”  Then it flew off again, phazing through the wall and vanishing.  Merle clapped his hands together.  

 

“Well!  There’s one problem down, right?”

 

* * *

 

Lup flew away as fast as she could, trying not to think of the boys still back there on that runaway train.  She could stop the train, probably, but they already didn’t trust her and they could most likely figure out a way to stop the train.  If they didn’t….well, Lup couldn’t think about that.  There was so much she wanted to say to them, so much she needed them to remember, but they couldn’t even understand her if she tried.  And there was only one person who could answer for that.  

 

The second moon hung high in the sky, looking incredibly realistic, but Lup knew better.  She briefly wondered if Lucretia had installed any protection against liches, but then remembered she didn’t fucking care.  The answer was found to be no, as Lup flew right through the outer layer of the base and right into the common green area.  She went full incorporeal so no one saw her, although she did entertain the idea of fucking up this entire complex.  But her goal was finding Lucretia.  She had to talk to Lucretia.  

 

Finding her office wasn’t too hard, there were signs practically everywhere, and Lup didn’t bother checking who was inside.  She just flew right in, became visible again, and slammed her skeletal hands on Lucretia’s desk.

 

“Lucy what the fuck did you do.” She demanded.  Lucretia, who had been turned around, staring at a portrait on the wall, whirled to face her.  She stared for about half a second at Lup before her eyes filled with tears.  

 

“Lup?” She asked, her voice breathless with disbelief.  She sounded so full of hope that Lup almost forgave her then and there.  But she just replaced the look of love on Lucretia’s face with that of the terror that was on Taako’s, and she refused to let up just yet.  

 

“Glad to see _someone_ still knows who I am.”

 

Sadness flashed across Lucretia’s face, and she gripped her staff tighter.  

 

“Lup, I...I’m so sorry.  I tried to find you, I looked for years, I-  I tried.  I thought you were gone.”  

 

“Yeah, I’m sure you did search, and thanks for that.  But that’s not why I’m here.  Why did you do it, Lucretia?”  Lup asked, and Lucretia looked up at her.  

 

“I was trying to _help_ them, Lup.  I had to get the relics back, they weren’t just hurting this plane, I could see how they were affecting all of us!  You remember, all the pain the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet brought?”  

 

“Of course I fucking remember, I made the damn thing.  That’s not the point.  Sure, the relics weren’t the solution we had hoped they would be. But this is still the wrong decision, surely you can see that right?  You didn’t help them.”  

 

“Lup, Magnus got married.  He had a _wife_.  I wish you could have seen it, he was so happy.  That’s all I wanted, for everyone to be happy again.”  

 

Lup tugged at the ends of her robe.  

 

“Maggie...got married?”  She said quietly.  “To who?”  

 

Lucretia smiled.  

 

“She was a carpenter’s daughter, Julia.  Beautiful, stubborn, and full of fire.  You would’ve liked her.”  

 

_Had_ a wife.   _Was_ happy.   _Was_ a carpenter’s daughter.  Lup felt a pit form in her gut.  

 

“What happened to her?” She asked, and Lucretia’s face fell.  

 

“An explosion.  It took out almost the entire town.  Magnus was away.”  

 

Lup’s hand flickered again.  

 

“Maggie got married...lost his wife...and none of us were there for any of it.”  She clenched her fist.  

 

“I went to his wedd-”

 

“-That's not the same and you know it!  We were a family, Lucy, the seven of us against the end of the world.  We should have been there for him, crowding up the wedding and embarrassing him in front of his bride.  Sure, he was happy, but when she died, we weren’t there!  How alone do you think he felt?”  Her voice raised to a shout.  Lucretia stood up.  

 

“I did what I had to, Lup!  I gave Magnus a home, somewhere he could be loved until I could give everyone their memories back.  It’s not my fault that Ravensroost was destroyed!  I gave Merle a nice place by the beach, where he’s always wanted.  He has a family too!  I couldn’t find you or Barry but I tried.  I tried as hard as I could.  I’m doing what I can to fix the mess we made and I just wanted them to be happy!  Is that so bad?”  Lucretia was shouting too now, tears running down her cheeks.  If Lup was in her body, she’d probably be crying too.  

 

“Do you think Taako is happy?”  She said, and Lucretia faltered.  “Where did you put him, Lucretia?  Where did you put Taako to make him happy?”  

 

“Well, he never did well alone, I remember the stories you told me about your younger years.  So I gave him crowds of people who loved him.  Adoring fans who couldn’t get enough of Taako Taaco, wizard chef.  He did so well.”  Lucretia whispered.  

 

“And me?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Me.  Where did I factor into this new Taako.  Was I there at all?”  

 

Lucretia was silent.  

 

“Where.  Was.  I.”  

 

“You didn’t exist.” Lucretia said quickly.  “There, is that what you wanted to hear?”

 

“But _why_ ?  You said so yourself Taako didn’t do well alone, so why take away the sister who was always there for him?  Did we ever tell you the phrase we always said to each other?”  Lup asked, and Lucretia shook her head.  “We would always say that the other was our heart.  I didn’t just love Taako, he didn’t just hold my heart.  He _was_ my heart, and I was his.  How could you take that away?”  

 

“Because you were gone, Lup!  I didn't know where you were, Barry and Taako were working themselves to death trying to find you, which meant a lot more for Taako.  Did you really want him to have a lost, probably dead sister in his head?”

 

“Well maybe if he did, he would’ve found me earlier!”  Lup shouted, and Lucretia paused.  

 

“He...found you?  Where were you?”

 

“You already saw me.  You saw Taako had my umbrella, I saw you recognize it.  Maybe if you had said something, someone would have realized I was trapped inside.”  

 

“Trapped? I- Lup...I’m so sorry.”

 

Lup was about to get mad again, she was ready to yell, when her eyes caught on something in an open desk drawer.  Something small, colorful, and wooden.  She reached over and picked up the small painted duck, and Lucretia smiled softly at it.  It really did look remarkably like her.  

 

“When did Magnus make this?”  Lup asked.  The smile dropped off of Lucretia’s face.  

 

“The day I did it.  Magnus walked in.  I...I had to watch as he forgot me, Lup.  I wanted to take it all back, but at the same time I knew I had to fix everything.  Then, when they all remembered, we could just be together again, without the relics hanging over our heads. I’m sorry, I really am, but I need to finish this.”  

 

“No you don’t.  The world doesn’t need you to save it alone.  Just let them remember, and we can figure out another way.  This hasn’t helped them, Lucretia, can’t you see?  Just look at Davenport.”

 

They were quiet after that, Lucretia had no answer. Lup just looked at the duck, at the nicks she could see that were made by Magnus’s knife. If she showed this to him, he wouldn't even recognize his own handiwork.

 

“Did you see them, Lucretia?  Still reckless Magnus Burnsides, still eccentric Merle Highchurch, still flamboyant Taako, but also not.  They’ve...changed. These ten years spent where they didn't belong...these aren't our boys anymore.”

 

Lucretia’s hand was white as she gripped her staff.

 

“Of course I saw them. I’ve visited them over the years, I’ve watched as they changed. You heard what Taako said.”

 

“‘I’m just a simple idiot wizard’, yeah I heard. You got rid of all the good he’s done, all the lives he’s saved. You got rid of _me_ , of all the things I helped him with.  He doesn’t remember how great he is.  And Merle?  I don't know what happened to him over the last ten years, but...he’s so jaded. He’s been through shit, and even Pan doesn’t really help him anymore.”

 

“I know. I know I messed up, I know that they need their memories, but if I don't finish this then what was the point of the last decade? Lup, I’m begging you, please don't try to stop me. I need to try and fix this.” Lucretia pleaded. She tried to grab Lup’s hand, but it passed right through. Lup sighed.

 

“ _I_ won't try to stop you, if only because I will never hurt you. But I’m gonna keep trying to get Taako to remember. You didn't see his face, Lucretia. He was terrified of me. Do you know how much that hurt?  I need my brother back and if you won't return his memories then I’ll keep trying to manually bring them back. Just do me one favor and don't try and keep me out of this base. Let me watch over them, let me see them.”

 

“Of course.” Lucretia said. “Thank you.”

 

“I want you to know though, that this doesn't mean I agree with your plan in the slightest. I just have another issue at the present.”

 

“I know.”

 

There was a silence again, but this one was calmer. Lup wished she could hug Lucretia. She wasn't mad anymore, she had gotten all that out, now she was just sad. A bell rang by the office door and Lucretia sighed.

 

“They’re back.” She said, standing up. “Can we talk like this again?  I miss having someone who knows me.”

 

“Me too.” Lup replied. “I’ve really fuckin’ missed you, Lucy.  But...I don’t know. We’ll see.”

 

Then Lucretia had to leave, so Lup flew up through the ceiling and back to the building that she vaguely remembered as the dorm building.  She found Taako’s room fairly fast, she knew how his room always ended up looking.  Then she landed on his bed, sheets rumpled even though he’s never slept in them, and she sighed.  She wanted to stop Lucretia, she wanted to stop this really, really bad plan, but her first and foremost priority was Taako. It always would be.  

 

Suddenly, something appeared on the bed next to her.  Something that was familiar to her, but she didn’t know where it came from.  There was a tag attached to it, and when she read it, the urge to cry tripled.  She wanted to race out of the moon base, and track down the person that she knew sent this, but made herself calm down.  Taako had found her, she had to watch him.  

 

Soon, though, she’d find _him_ too.  

 

* * *

 

Taako followed Merle and Magnus out of the sphere and to the dais where the Director was.  She smiled at them.  Taako didn’t notice that her knuckles were white.  

 

“I can’t believe you’ve done it again.  I can’t believe you’ve done this.” She said.  

 

“I mean, we almost didn’t.” Taako said.  “We ran into some crazy shit on that train.”

 

After the red robe had left, they brought Graham in to try and stop the train, but all the controls were set to the engineer’s hands.  Which were probably with Jenkins when he got turned into a failed Fantasy Human Torch, so they were gone.  Thanks, creepy red robe.  Taako had saved the day by using Jenkins’s port wand to send the train to his special garden, destroying the entire train, but it would have been so much easier if they had those goddamn hands.  

 

“What sort of ‘crazy shit’ did you run into?” The Director asked as she called for the relic ball thing to be brought in.  Taako tossed in the monocle.

 

“Well, there was a murderer, for one.” He said.

 

“Yeah, it turned out to be the train attendant!” Magnus added.  Taako waved him off.

 

“This is my story, hush hush.  So anyway, I was really awesome and figured out how to stop the train since Jenkins, the shitty wizard attendant, killed the engineer.  I crashed it into the guy’s garden, he deserved it.  Also I rolled a crit twenty to pick up that monocle so basically the story is that I’m great.”

 

Merle’s eyes lit up and he gestured to Taako.

 

“Oh, also Taako’s umbrella broke and then-”

 

“-Then there was this really weird kid, he was six or something I don’t know.  He had a business card.” Taako interrupted Merle.  It was almost instinct, he didn’t want anyone knowing about the red robe.  After all, the Director _had_ told them those guys were bad news.  If he had looked at the Director instead of trying to silently tell Merle to shut up, he would have seen her smile drop, and her grip on the staff loosen.  He would have seen her face, with a look of despair.

 

But he didn’t, and it was gone as soon as it was there.  She simply told him that it was a shame the Umbrastaff broke, and that once they went on their next mission she hoped he found a suitable replacement.  He shrugged and left the main building, heading back to their dorm room.  After getting their payment, of course.  Can’t leave with an empty purse.  

 

Once he was alone in his room he sat on his bed.  He pulled the two halves of the Umbrastaff out of his bag and held them.  Why couldn’t he get rid of these?  He had tried everything once the red robe left to forget about it, but it stuck in his mind like a bad taste.  Only it...wasn’t so bad?   _Ugh_ , Taako was so confused.  He could hear the robe’s voice in his mind clear as day.  

 

_It’s Lup._

 

Lup.  That name meant nothing to him, but it wouldn’t leave his head.  He groaned and tossed the Umbrastaff pieces onto the table next to the bed.  Then he fell back onto the sheets.  

 

“Fuck!” He hissed, sitting back up instantly after he hit his head on something metal.  That was _not_ there when he left.  A weapon lay on his bed, a long staff-like handle that ended in a spear tip, although it looked more like a sword.  A glaive.  How did Taako know that?  He’s never seen anything like this in his whole life.  There was a note attached to it, and he opened it gingerly.  

 

_Taako-_

_This is called the KrEbStAr.  It’s a very powerful weapon, made by an even more powerful wizard.  I wanted to give it to you to replace the Umbrastaff.  It’s a shame that broke, although...not really.  I honestly can’t thank you enough for breaking it, I can’t believe I never thought to look in that cave earlier.  I hope this helps you, hopefully I’ll see you again soon.  Hopefully I’ll see her too._

_-An Old Friend_


	5. Petals to the Metal: They're Battlewagons, not Cars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen i know its been six or so months aslkdjfd we're really sorry. high school killed both of us for a while tbh. We're hoping that wont happen again next school year but im gonna not promise anything bc i don't want to be wrong. Anyway! For now we're back in action and got a new arc for you guys, hope you like it!

Taako had one thing to say about his new weapon: whoever made it seriously knew how to name something.  The KrEbStAr? Completely iconic. He kinda wanted to meet the guy. On the other hand, the Director didn’t seem to like it?  Not that Taako cared, but...he was a little curious. Magnus and Merle thought it was the coolest shit, hands down, but when he walked around the quad with it just to show it off, he ran into the Director.  She looked like she saw a ghost, if Taako was being honest. She looked at him, her face went the same shade as her robes, and then she hurried away with her staff clutched in her hands. Did she know the original maker of the thing?  That would be cool. 

  


Sure, Taako had a new weapon to keep him occupied, but this interlude before the next mission wasn’t nearly as relaxing.  There was a carnival, and Taako had fun watching Magnus eat unicorn dick, but when everyone else passed out and all the eyes opened in the sky...it seriously freaked him out.  It felt like every single one of those blinding white eyes were watching  _ him _ , and it was the one time he didn’t like being the center of attention.  The eyes just reminded him of death. He didn’t know if he was remembering Glamour Springs or something else, but it wasn’t a feeling he liked.

  


* * *

  


Lup didn't end up having another conversation with Lucretia, although she definitely kept an eye on her.  She wanted to talk, but she also didn’t want Lucretia to get the idea that Lup was okay with her plan. Lup was still trying to figure out ways to change her mind. But, then the boys were sent out on their next mission.  Their beds were empty, the grounds weirdly quiet, and Lup felt that something was off. There was something she was missing. Lup spotted Lucretia sitting in her office, head in her hands. She sighed. 

  


“Lucretia?  What’s up?” She asked, floating next to the desk.  Lucretia looked up at Lup, her eyes more tired than Lup had ever seen them.  

  


“It was Barry that sent him the KrEbStAr wasn’t it?”  She asked. Lup shrugged.

  


“Probably, who else would it be?”  Lup knew it was Barry. It had to be Barry. 

  


“When I first saw him walking around with that….it was like nothing had changed.  He already threw me off with the Umbrastaff, looking so much like you, but this? I had to double check that we weren’t in the Starblaster.  I thought for sure that he was gonna look at me and do that over dramatic wave-thing he does? When he knows perfectly well the other person sees him?  I couldn’t look at him, Lup.”

  


Lup didn’t know what to say.  So she didn’t say anything, until Lucretia broke the silence with a pained sigh.  

  


“Lup...it’s here.”  She said, her voice breaking.  

  


“What’s here?” Lup was pretty sure she knew, but she needed to be wrong.  But when Lucretia looked up at her with hollow eyes, she could tell she wasn’t.  

“The Hunger.  The scouts arrived at the carnival.  The boys were the only ones who saw them, they didn’t even know what they were seeing.”  

  


If Lup still had blood, it would have chilled to ice.  She recalled the eyes she had seen so many times, a hundred times, the pure darkness that covered the planes they left behind.  The void that swallowed lives whole and shattered bonds in an instant. It was happening again. They had tried so hard, lost so much, and for what?  

  


Lup looked at the staff leaning on Lucretia’s chair, and she realized something.  The scouts were already here. The Hunger would come in a year now, there was no point in keeping the relics scattered.  Lucretia had already pieced together enough of the Light to attract its notice, even if they split it again, it would still come to this plane.  There was no point to trying to dissuade Lucretia anymore, at least not until she had enough of the Light to make her barrier. That still couldn’t happen.  Lup was still a little mad at Lucretia, that hadn’t yet gone away, but she knew she meant well. She didn’t mean to attract the Hunger. She just wanted to help her family.  Lup understood that. She sighed. 

  


“So, which relic was it this time?” She asked, and Lucretia looked relieved at the subject change.  

  


“The Gaia Sash.”

  


Lup made a face, forgetting that she was basically a skeleton and had no face.  

  


“You let  _ Merle _ go after the sash?  Lucretia, c’mon, you know better.”

  


“I know, I know.” Lucretia laughed.  “What was I supposed to tell him? ‘Merle, you can’t go on this mission because I know about your plant fetish and don't want to be complicit in that’?  Not sure how well that would go over.”

  


“But Mags and Taako don’t remember that!  Oh boy, I need to be there when Merle flirts with a plant in front of them, it’s gonna be priceless.” Lup clapped her hands together and started to fly out of the office, when Lucretia stopped her.  

  


“Lup?” She called.  “Can you...keep an eye on Magnus’s fish for me?”

  


“Fish?  When did Magnus get a fish?”

  


“This morning, apparently.  He named it Steven. Just, well, I know Fisher is safe up here, but Magnus looked at Steven with that same face and...I don’t want anything to happen to it.”  

  


Lup smiled.  

  


“I think I can do that.”

  


Then she flew out the side of the moon base and headed down to Goldcliff.  She arrived just in time to see the boys talking to a guy who looked to be in charge.  Or...two of them were talking to him. Magnus was busy trying to chop through the vines covering the door to a building.  She found herself grinning, she could see how they’d get through this. Literally the only good thing that could ever come out of erasing Magnus and Taako’s memories is that they’re experiencing Merle’s plant-flirting for the first time.  She perched herself on the roof of a building across the street and watched as Merle approached the vines. He walked up to them and started stroking a leaf. Even from far away, she could hear Taako’s shout. 

  


“I want to  _ die _ .” She heard him groan, and she laughed.  She was not sympathetic at all, she still remembered the first time Lucretia and Barry brought a potted plant onto the Starblaster to study it.  Lup walked in on Merle talking to it and immediately set it on fire. And him. Davenport ended up putting him out, but his beard was completely burned off and he glared at Lup for the rest of the cycle.  

  


Magnus was sort of laughing, but also in a ‘this is terrible and I hate it’ kind of way. Finally, the vines parted in a puff of pollen (Lup looked away in disgust as her mind involuntarily filled in what Merle might have said), and the three walked inside.  Lup made herself invisible and followed them before the vines closed, just in time to catch Taako saying, “I think I just discovered the  _ world’s worst fetish _ .” 

  


While he wasn’t wrong, Lup also remembered the first time Taako discovered Merle’s...habits.  That encounter also ended with Merle on fire, and he wouldn’t speak to either of the two twins until his beard came back in the next cycle.  He insisted Lup had helped Taako, that the fire was stronger this time. (She had, but Merle never found any proof of that.)

  


Nothing much happened for a while after that.  They killed a Treant, with Taako spending most of the fight in the Ethereal Plane (Lup had seen him cast that spell enough to know where he went) and only reappearing to set the goddamn thing on fire twice with two different Scorching Rays.  He obviously wasn’t quite used to the KrEbStAr yet, even if it was muscle memory it had still been at least a decade since he’s last used it. Even with that, though, the battle didn’t seem that hard for them. Although, gods, she hadn’t heard Merle speak Tree in a long time, it was a little jarring.  

  


She wanted to jump in and help when Taako almost fell into the vines, pantsing Magnus (it wasn’t anything she’d never seen before), but he had that handled.  Only then….they actually got to the Raven. Lup immediately spotted the Gaia Sash around her waist, but when she saw the boys she didn’t attack them. 

  


“The three of you shouldn’t be here.” She said.  Lup found it interesting that she was still this lucid.  Yes, the sash worked differently than her gauntlet, but it still had a strong thrall.  The Raven must be actively trying to resist it. When the boys refused to leave,  _ that’s  _ when the Raven attacked. And damn did she attack, Lup barely had time to realize she should step in before the Raven had wiped the floor with all three of their asses. Taako and Merle were down, unconscious but not dead, and Magnus was struggling to stand. Lup got ready to attack, but before she could, a window shattered as a halfling leapt in. She landed in between the party and the Raven. 

  


“Sloane, you’re not a killer!”  She shouted, and Lup stopped readying her spell.  The Raven visibly faltered. Then she vanished. The halfling then turned around and healed Taako and Merle, grabbing them and one at a time taking them out the window.  Lup just watched. Who the hell was this? She watched as the halfling took the three of them to a tent, and she rested invisibly next to Taako. She should probably keep her distance in case Taako ever needed to cast True Sight, but...she really couldn’t.  She really didn't trust this Bane guy, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. Maybe it was because his first name was Captain. Jeez, did the guy’s parents hate him or something? 

She got interested once the boys went out to talk to the halfling, whose name she found out to be Hurley.  After all, she was quite obviously lying. 

  


“Lieutenant Hurley,” Magnus said gently, “You knew her real name.”

  


The look that flashed across Hurley’s face had Lup laughing, even as she deflected the question, and even as Merle cast his zone of truth.  

  


“Merle you old codger,” She whispered, as she was a safe enough distance that they shouldn’t hear her, “She’s fucking  _ gay _ .  You don’t need a zone to see how in  _ love _ she is.”  

  


Man, if Taako had his memories he would see that instantly.  He was the one who kept seeing that same look on Barry’s face for decades before he pushed the guy to make a move.  If Lup was being honest, he’d seen the look on her face a few times too. He gave her hell over that. Damn, she missed it.  

  


“What is your relationship to the woman up in the tower?” Merle asked, and Lup got a little close to hear what Hurley would say.  

  


“We were partners, we- we were uh- what did, what’s going on?”

  


Hah, partners.  What kind of partners?  Lup grinned. The boys tried to explain what was going on without actually explaining what was going on, and eventually Hurley said that she wanted to take them somewhere.  Lup followed them through the streets of Goldcliff, until they reached a ratty garage a little outside the city limits. 

Lup was about to follow the boys inside when she felt something.  She could tell it was strangely familiar, but felt as if it was not too familiar, but at the same time it was not too not familiar for her to discount the possibility.  After all, now that she wasn’t trapped in an umbrella anymore, everything felt different. But this...someone was here. She closed her eyes and tried to figure out where it was coming from, but she couldn’t pinpoint it.  She sat there, concentrating, but the feeling went away. By the time she opened her eyes again, the boys were still inside talking to Hurley. Lup didn’t know what was inside the garage, but she also doubted Hurley would do anything to hurt the trio, so she didn’t try to go inside.  

  


She just waited, and perked up once the boys left the garage, following them from the sky.  They made their way to another garage, this one guarded by two thugs. Lup perched across the street, completely ready to interfere but doubting she would have to.  She watched Merle saunter up to the guards and pull the whole ‘Good Work of Pan’ schtick, and immediately lost interest. She lay back on the rooftop, ready to interfere if she heard any intense fighting.  

  


She closed her eyes, letting herself meditate.  She never needed to anymore, being a lich kind of made that obsolete, but she still liked it.  

She liked it a lot more when Taako was next to her though.  Even if she was in lich form that cycle, she could still feel his warmth next to her, feel his magic getting stronger as he meditated in tandem with her.  Often she would have to force him to meditate, or vice versa before the lichification, but he never refused a light tug to their room. Sometimes he’d braid her hair before they meditated, sometimes she’d braid his, other times they just sat on the bed and let themselves rest.  

  


_ “So….Barry, huh?” Taako asked, a smarmy smirk on his face.  Lup promptly shoved him off the bed.  _

  


_ “Shut the fuck up, I’ve seen  _ your _ taste in guys.” Lup shot back.  Taako gasped dramatically, his hand flying to his chest.   _

_   
_

_ “Sorry, are you saying that my taste is worse than a dude whose name is Barold Jarold Bluejeans?” _

_   
_

_ “That’s not his name and you know it.” Lup laughed, pulling Taako back onto the bed.  He raised his eyebrows. _

_   
_

_ “But do you know for sure?” _

  


_ Lup paused, her face falling blank.  Taako watched her with his head tilted, the air of ‘you know I’m right’ surrounding him.  Suddenly Lup glared at Taako, standing up and rushing to the door. _

  


_ “This is your fault.” She said, leaving the bedroom and running down the hall of the Starblaster, shouting Barry’s name.   _

  


Lup blinked, drawing herself out of the memory.  Fuck, how long had it been? She didn’t mean to start remembering shit, she was supposed to be listening for a fight!  She closed her eyes and listened, able to concentrate now that the odd presence was gone. She faintly heard the sound of Taako’s voice, and made her way to him, eventually finding a rough looking human looking suspiciously at another human.  There was a third lying unconscious on the ground. Confused, Lup looked a little closer, positive she had heard Taako speaking. Luckily, she knew his magic as well as she knew her own, and managed to spot the slight shimmer that gave away a disguise spell.  She moved a little closer and listened to the conversation, watching Taako plead animatedly. 

  


“-You saw a dead bird, you’d step on it.  You’d say ‘I hate birds!’ You were- You had, no heart.” Taako said to the conscious human.  “Heartless Hank, we called you. Was it Hank? Remind me what your real name is, ‘cause I can only remember the great nicknames I’ve given you over the months.”

  


Lup pursed her lips, disappointed.  This was not one of Taako’s better heists.  She’s seen him do  _ so _ much better.  The human looked confusedly at Taako.  

“You’ve never called me Heartless Hank!  What’re you- What’re you- What are you sayin’?” He said.  

  


Taako tried to keep up the ruse, and Lup was starting to become amused, when suddenly the human pulled a knife.  Lup stiffened, wondering if she should intervene. Taako was a big boy, he could take care of himself. Right?

  


Lup got ready to attack just in case.

  


“What’s my name?” The human demanded.

  


“Listen... We go back a long ways, right?” Taako was trying to put on a confident face but he was failing. He was nervous.

  


“No we don’t!” The thug interrupted. “We met two months ago! My name, now! Or I’m gonna gut ya! I’m gonna gut’cha like a fish.” Lup was ten seconds away from burning this dude into the astral plane.

  


Taako replied in seven. He gave a nervous laugh. “It-  _ Your _ name... of course... is... Taako.” It took Lup everything she had to suppress the intense desire to laugh.

  


The thug wasn’t feeling the comedy gold though. “Okay. Uh-”

  


“Psych that’s just mine say  _ my _ name!” In a flash Taako blasted the guy with four magic missiles. If she had any biological need to breathe, she would’ve realized she was holding her breath. She didn’t though, so her relief came instead with a small series of laughs. Then Merle came in from the side and tried to swing at the thug. He missed. Magnus came in after Merle and tried to swing at the thug. He didn’t miss. As the guy learned what it felt like to be cleft in twain, Taako complained about never getting to know his name.  

  


“It says right here in his wallet, ‘I am Barbara’” Magnus said, rifling through the man’s pockets.  Taako took the wallet out of his hands, took all the gold pieces out of it, then tossed it back to Magnus while putting his other hand to his temple.

  


“Well I’ll use process of elimination, it’s clearly not Taako.  So that’s one name down.”

  


Magnus then exclaimed that apparently they weren’t supposed to kill anyone, and Lup struggled not to laugh.  If Hurley actually knew them then she’d know that was a fruitless battle. Taako help up a hand to stop Magnus. 

  


“Listen, um, I feel like she's gonna be pretty-, okay first off, let me own this one.” He said.  He gestured to the lifeless body of Barbara that lay at his feet. “Because I did- this is on me alright, this- this one's Taako's, but uh, it seems like we should heal... him...? Because, if he died like- Hurley, we need her on our side. Um, now there is one other option.”

Taako paused for a second and Lup could tell by the flicking of his ears that he was trying not to giggle.  

  


“Maybe we just disappear this little problem?” He said, spreading his hands as he grinned.  “She didn't say anything about, uh, these guys wandering off, you know? Wandering off and no one ever hears from them again, she didn't say anything about  _ that _ , right?”

  


Magnus and Merle grinned back and Lup rolled her eyes.  Taako  _ would _ suggest that.  Although, she’d be lying if she said that the idea hadn’t been in her head immediately.  

  


“So you’re saying we eat him?” Merle suggested.  Lup almost instinctively shot a fireball, only barely catching herself and reminding herself that this was not their Starblaster journey and he would not come back.  It’s just…. _ what the fuck, Merle _ ?  

  


The boys decided to just throw Barbara’s corpse of a cliff, a much better option than eating him, and then they made their way back to that garage they had been trying to get into.  If they remembered Lup and knew she was there, she could just fly through the walls and probably get whatever they needed without that gang noticing, since they probably didn’t think to lich-proof the place, but she didn’t even know what they were looking for.  It would probably be better to just stick to watching them for now. 

  


Or at least, it would be if she could fucking focus on watching them rather than getting sidetracked by that  _ fucking _ feeling again. Was someone else following her boys? That couldn’t be good. She was the only one allowed to lowkey stalk the three of them.  Taako, Merle, and Magnus could handle themselves for a little while, probably. Maybe. She just had to make sure they weren’t in danger from something else. 

  


She turned and flew off, taking one last glance as the boys entered the garage.  She missed the small flash of red in the corner of her eye, and that small flash of red missed her too.  Streaking over Goldcliff, she scanned the rooftops and alleyways, keeping a tight circle to the garage and looking out for anyone suspicious.  But it all seemed...normal. Or, as normal as she could tell, seeing as she’d never set foot in this city before now. The only people that seemed suspicious seemed to be other gang members, hiding in alleyways and fixing up battlewagons.  Was there a race? Was that what Taako, Merle, and Magnus were gonna be doing? Lup felt a grin stretch across her face. 

  


Well, she knew what she was doing next.


	6. Petals to the Metal: It was Voluntary Possession, I Swear!

Lup felt alive, which was a weird thing to think about because it reminded her that she was technically dead. Or, undead. Anyway, she pulled herself back to reality, flexing her new fingers. They weren’t really hers, she didn’t get her body back or anything, but she was in a body. Some battlewagon gang member. She didn’t know who it was, but she was gonna fuckin’ race and that was all that mattered. Sure, she had to keep an eye on Taako, Merle, and Magnus, but she’d been stuck in an umbrella for a decade. Let a girl live a little.

She had taken over the body of a water genasi girl wearing a dolphin mask and disposed of her partner by punching him off the driver’s seat and into the dust cloud around them. First thing she noticed was the large button on the dashboard helpfully labeled ‘Autopilot’. “Great!” She thought to herself. She didn’t need to repeat the time she almost crashed the ship on Cycle 2 when Dav tried to teach her how to fly in case he kicked the proverbial bucket. Plus it let her take a more active role in the whole race, which was definitely a plus.

After turning the autopilot on for just a quick second, she surveyed the wagon around her. There were two cannons on each side of it which were currently docked inside. They were all currently loaded and she couldn’t see any spares. Her temporary body also had a Decanter of Endless Water stashed in a small satchel that had a few Fantasy Clif Bars inside it as well. They were chocolate chip. She picked the right body to possess.

“Now then,” she said to herself as she sat down in the driver’s seat, “as Fantasy Sonic says,” she turned off the autopilot and put her hands on the wheel, “gotta go fast motherfuckers.” She promptly kicked everything into high gear and speed off into the fray. It was the most exhilarating thing she had experienced in years. Being stuck in an umbrella and forced to keep yourself calm and together to stay alive makes you forget how fun it is to just let loose. She really needed this.

As she pulled out of the dust cloud, she saw a shadow headed towards her vehicle and yanked the wheel to the left, just narrowly avoiding being crushed by a giant wheel that had suddenly toppled over. Now she was closer to the wagon on her left, and she saw three figures that made her grin. From her position she could see Magnus, just tying some rope to a crowbar, Merle, hitting at their wagon with a wrench that must’ve had some Mend charges in it cause their wagon looked a lot less crumpled all of a sudden, and Taako, popping out of the section of the wagon that just got fixed. There they were, her dumbasses. Her boys. She assumed that Hurley was driving, given the fact that Magnus was currently hanging out on the roof and therefore not utilizing his vehicle proficiency. If it were up to Merle or Taako to drive the wagon they’d probably crash faster than their turn would be over.

She made a point of sticking her hand out through the window in a thumbs up gesture and giving them a decent lead, about 40 feet in their 8 o’clock. The dust raged all around them, which was understandable when you consider how many wagons had probably thrown them all around. It was silent, the only noise being the hum of the two engines. Suddenly, the boys’ wagon had gotten hit by something as Hurley suddenly jerked the car to the left, and in the distant dust she could see some kind of long arm pull away what looked to be a door. She drove closer and rolled perception. It was hard to make out, but the dust seemed to be swirling around something big. Suddenly, before it was her turn again, Merle was suddenly pulled out of the wagon by a large claw arm and Magnus jumped blindly into the dust after him.

Suddenly the dusty camouflage dropped, and Lup saw a large fishbowl, about 10 feet tall, with a metal hatch on the top. Magnus was precariously hanging off of the base, close enough to the ground that his feet were occasionally scraping it. In the front of the base, inside another thick glass chamber, were two dudes with octopus masks. On the sides of the base were two giant claws. And inside the giant fishbowl was Merle, along with a Giant blue ringed octopus. Lup only rolled an 11 on her nature check, but she could tell those were bad news. Taako was faster than her though, immediately casting Reduce so that it would be a bit more manageable.

“Calamar him!” Taako screamed rather non committedly. “No waitwait. Ca-calamar him!” Yeah that’s better good save nice recovery let’s hit the showers everyone good hustle.

The Not-So-Giant-Now octopus quickly came to terms with his new size situation and attacked Merle with it's Not-So-Giant-Now beak. Lup realized she had to do something other than watch and comment on the fight like some kind of Fantasy JJBA character. She drove over so she was right next to the fishbowl and (after turning on the autopilot) ran to take aim at the glass. From this side she only had two shots, and she’d rather keep one for a later situation. As she took aim, she saw Merle clobber his own face to try and get the octopus off. Classic Merle. Then she saw Magnus cut off the claw arm next to him and quickly strike the fishbowl right after. “Here goes.” She whispered to herself as she quickly readjusted her aim to hit the crack and let the cannon fire.

The sound that followed can only be described as the sound of utter destruction, so it was a sound Lup was familiar with. The glass shattered and either flew backwards in a hailstorm of glass, or got washed into the water which was quickly leaking out of the fishbowl. Merle and Magnus lifted themselves up onto the battlewagon’s base. Magnus looked at the octopus, which was now hanging on for dear life, and picked it up. Taako yelled something that Lup couldn’t fully make out, with a slight ringing still in her ears, but was probably something about cooking the octopus. Magnus threw the octopus so it landed on the windshield of the octowagon, which promptly turned the windshield wipers on and slid that octoboy right off. Lup could hear Taako and Hurley yelling about something, then watched as Taako cast Magic Missile on the tires, which caused the battlewagon to wobble and Magnus to grip Merle’s collar. Then Hurley yelled hump, which was weird cause this doesn’t seem like the time to make a sex joke I mean the battlewagon the boys are on isn’t stable plus there’s nothing they could conceivably hump except each other and oh ok she’s just going to ram the battlewagon and probably yelled jump ok ok ok time to get back to the wheel.

As Lup sat back down and started turning off the autopilot, she watched as Magnus lept effortlessly towards the safety of the other battlewagon, the good one, while Merle just kinda fell towards the twin horns like a tennis ball that’s just been served falls into the path of a fast tennis racket. Lup knew there was no way she would get there on time. She just stared in shock as Merle fell towards what could very well be his last deaWhatTheFuckIsThat. While Merle was suddenly ghost riding the whip on some kind of spectral unicorn, Lup was experiencing several very strong emotions at once. Pride at the fact that Taako seemed to be doing well in his magic studies even without her. Fear at the thought that Taako doesn’t need her. Surprise at the gay ass unicorn he just majicked into existence. Disgust at the pure fucking concept that Taako could ever be gayer than her. Admiration at how great her little twin brother was at magic.

In the end, the Five Stages of Garyl were too much for her to handle while possessing her current body, and she unconsciously ejected, leaving her poor dolphin-mask wearing host to regain control of her body and promptly crash the battlewagon. Lup quickly flew upwards under the cover of the rising dust clouds so she could avoid detection while she took some time to process everything that just happened. The race had been exhilarating, and she loved watching Merle, Magnus, and Taako actually look like they were having fun on that battlewagon. On one hand, she already missed having a body, but she hated being in a body that the boys would never recognize.

Lup followed the boy’s battlewagon from above the dust cloud, making sure to keep an eye on the Raven as well. She just wanted to make sure she could jump in if needed. The dust was thick, though, and so for a while she lost track of the wagon. She managed to catch glimpses of what they were doing in the occasional breaks in the dust clouds, including their fight with a giant armored boar where she just knew Magnus was thrilled. He really liked fighting animals for some reason. First the Power Bear, now this? She didn’t like only being able to watch, but she’d rather the boys not know she was there for now. After the train fiasco, she wasn’t sure she could handle that. She wasn’t all that worried about them, she knew the three of them could handle themselves, but she also knew that the Gaia Sash was pretty damn powerful. So when she finally broke through the dust cloud completely, just in time to see the Raven plummet off the side of the cliff, she wasn’t fooled. No Relic holder would willingly kill themselves without ulterior motive.

The thrall wouldn’t let them.

Sure enough, when a blast of wind knocked back everyone around the cliff and the Raven rose up in a tornado, Lup simply pursed her lips and flew down a little lower. This was inevitable. She looked at the boys down by the cliff and saw that they had taken their animal masks off. Except Taako, for whatever reason, but knowing him it was probably asinine and all related to a joke. Hurley was next to Magnus, and she looked….devastated. Lup understood. Hurley was realising that the Raven - no, her name was Sloane, Lup remembered from the bank tower - that Sloane was lost to the sash. That couldn’t be an easy thing to go through.

Next thing she knew, she saw Magnus hopping into the battlewagon again, followed by Hurley and then Merle and Taako. She had expected they’d try to save Sloane, and she hovered a little lower. She really wanted them to succeed on this, and she was ready to step in.

As the boys on their battlewagon entered the tornado, Lup grit her teeth and flew in after them, bracing herself so she wouldn’t let herself get blown away by the winds. Ugh. She always hated the Gaia Sash. Too much nature. But once she reached the eye of the storm, all those thoughts left her mind. Because right there was a massive tower of thorny vines, and Lup could tell that Sloane was right in the center. The battlewagon was currently circling the tower, connected to it by a harpoon, until it crashed into the side and she saw Magnus start scrambling up the vines. There was a small outcropping of vines where the four of them soon settled, and Lup went invisible to get closer. She heard Hurley speak.

“I don't...I don’t know her like this.” She said, her voice breaking. “Maybe I never...maybe I never really knew her.”

Lup wanted to hug her, because if there’s one thing that she understood, it was feeling like you had never really known someone. It was how she and Taako both felt when their parents closed the door on them and told them to go live with their aunt. The betrayal, the feeling that you had them pegged all wrong this whole time...but she knew that what Hurley was feeling was still different. Sloane wasn’t Lup’s parents. She was under the thrall, not making a conscious choice to leave children behind. Hurley didn’t deserve to feel this way over a love that still definitely existed underneath the influence of the Gaia Sash.

Sloane, or the body of Sloane currently being puppeted by Merle’s godsdamned Relic, raised her sickly looking arm and knocked all four of them back with a blast of vines. Lup evaded easily being incorporeal and all. She flew off to the side of the platform and saw Taako stand up, brushing himself off. He grabbed his KrEbStAr from where it had lain beside him on the platform, and pointed it at the tower of vines. Lup wasn’t quite sure what he was planning, until a giant blast of fire exploded out of the end and burned a large chunk of the vines to smithereens.

“Huh.” Lup said under her breath. “I can use that.”

Because Taako might be good with fire magic, but he was a transmutation wizard. Lup, though? Lup was a fuckin evocation wizard. Fire magic was her shit. Taako might have done a lot of damage with that fireball, but Lup could do better. Maybe it was her natural sibling instinct to one-up her brother, but whatever it was, she was using it.

Magnus ran up and started hacking at the vines, pulling them apart to get at Sloane inside. He reached her, and Lup only thought for a split second that he was going to try and pull her out of the vines. But then she frowned, and realized no. This was Magnus Burnsides. Then he punched Sloane in the head and she mentally won a bet with herself. Sloane laughed, a high, cold, very stereotypically evil laugh. The vines slammed shut behind Magnus, sealing him inside. And Lup heard him yell in pain. Her blood boiled. She felt the lightning, but she didn’t shun it. Not this time. Not right now.

Lup cast Suggestion on Hurley, really quick. The halfling’s eyes went blank for just a moment before she’s calling to the others to back up. Lup needed them far away, or as far away as the platform would let them be. She thought back to when she first tested the extent of her lich powers, the day she saluted Taako and fell ass-backwards off the Starblaster to face down the big bad Vore plane herself. She needed a bit of that right now. She positioned herself right next to Taako, who was readying another fireball, but she knew it wouldn’t be enough. So when he cast the spell, she let loose. And the sun came out of her. She saw it blast everyone just a little backwards, and she saw the bewildered look on Taako’s face, but all she felt was the rush of releasing so much magic. It slammed into the vines, shriveling them to ash and revealing Sloane and Magnus. Despite the carnage of burned flora around her, Sloane grinned. As Magnus rejoined the rest of the group and Lup flew backwards, vines began to regrow. Lup half-noticed Taako looking curiously at the KrEbStAr, but she was focused on these new vines. They were...wrong. A sickly grey, with sparkling white thorns. Hurley called for the others to stay back, that these vines were silverpoint. Incredibly deadly, even if you just pricked your finger. They encased Sloane again, wrapping around her like a tomb.

Man, Lup wished that simile wasn’t so accurate.

She flew a little closer as Hurley gathered the three boys by the edge of the platform. But she didn’t get there in time to hear what she said. She got there right in time to watch Taako kneel, and to watch Hurley wrap her arms tightly around him.

“Thanks for everything.” She whispered. And Lup noticed, too late, that she was clasping a safety harness around his chest. Lup knew what Hurley was doing. She was too late to stop it. She wanted to stop it, because there had to be a better way. But Hurley was already pointing her hands at the boys, and blasting them off the platform. Then she turned, glowing slightly, and ran full-tilt right into the vines, right at Sloane. Lup hesitated, looking back between her boys and where Hurley had wrapped herself around Sloane despite the thorns digging into her skin, before zipping down to where Merle, Magnus, and Taako were falling in their safety bubbles. The white light that had surrounded Hurley was growing, spreading through the tornado, and Lup could see that the three boys were unconscious. It was up to her, as usual.

She cast Gust, and pushed them all over the city, where at least they’ll fall on land. She cast it bittersweetly, remembering the day she learned it. Taako had taught it to her, with it being a transmutation spell, and she had ripped him a new one. So many jokes about blowing. So very many. But she had learned it, just in case.

She just never thought that this would be the instance that she’d use it.

As Lup followed the boys down to their landing spot, she noticed two other figures. Hurley was in the lap of a no longer possessed Sloane, who was caressing her cheek. Sloane was crying. The Gaia Sash was in front of her, lying in the shallow water.

“Why’d you do that?” She asked, wiping blood from one of the many thorn cuts on Hurley’s face. Hurley smiled.

“Had to save you.” She said. Lup settled down next to them and became visible. They both started, shocked, but Lup held up a spectral hand.

“I’m not here to hurt you, I promise.” She said. “I just wanted to apologise.”

“For what?” Sloane asked. Lup smiled sadly, even though she knew they couldn’t see it.

“One of my friends made that sash, someone who is basically family to me. They are unavailable to apologise, so I wanted to. I’m sorry. Neither of you deserve this.”

Hurley managed a shaky smile in Lup’s direction.

“It’s alright.” She said. “If this is how I go...it’s alright.”

“But I need you.” Sloane protested, putting her forehead against Hurley’s. “This is my fault, I can’t lose you like this.”

“Sloane, it’s not your fault.” Lup said. “Items like this sash, they have a thrall to them, and the fact that you got caught up in it isn’t your fault.”

“It still feels like it.” Sloane said. Lup noticed Magnus stirring behind her, and she cursed.

“I have to go.” She said. “Those three back there, can you not let them know I was here? Please?”

Sloane gave her a sad, wry smile and a nod. Then she went back to brushing away Hurley’s hair and holding her close. As Lup went incorporeal again and backed up, she saw the three boys sit up, and heard Hurley chuckle weakly.

“You’re in trouble…” She sang softly. Lup knew that if she had a body, she’d be crying. It felt like back on that robot plane, when she knew she was leaving them to die, but there was nothing else she could do. She watched the boys talk to Hurley and Sloane, thankful that she was never mentioned, and she saw Sloane lean down and whisper something. Hurley reached up and cupped Sloane’s cheek.

“Yeah, I think that’d be alright.” Hurley said, and Sloane kissed her on the forehead. Then she addressed the boys once again.

“I want to thank you for everything you’ve done, but I - I have one last request for you.” She said, watching them and clutching Hurley. “Are there other objects in this world...that are as powerful as this belt?”

The boys reluctantly admitted that there were, and Lup cringed at the question. Unfortunately, there were. She wished there wasn’t. Sloane nodded, then shut her eyes.

“Don’t let this happen again.” She said.

Then Lup was blinded by a bright white light, and a warm summer breeze washed over her. When it was gone, and she could see again, she gasped. Light pink petals were raining from the sky, fluttering down and swirling in the thick whirlwind. They were coming from the most beautiful cherry blossom tree that Lup had ever seen. Tall, twisting branches reaching high into the clear blue sky, sprouting endless numbers of the soft pink flowers. Then her eyes landed on the base of the tree. Where the roots formed a shape, or rather, two shapes. A short figure, lying tightly in the embrace of a taller figure. Lup flew closer, again before Taako, Magnus and Merle woke up, since they were knocked back by whatever Sloane did. She rested her hand on the wood, and she could feel their life forces inside it. Intertwined forever. She smiled. They were kindred spirits, in a way. Held together by love.

Lup could hear Sloane inside the tree, or the part of the tree that used to be her. It was speaking. Lup leaned her forehead against the bark, listening carefully.

_Thank you_. She said.

Lup laughed a little. “I hope you two are happy.” She said. She felt Sloane and Hurley both snort in laughter.

_We are_. They said in tandem. _We have a feeling we’ll never be unhappy again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully we'll have the next chapter out in a week or two but who knows. We certainly don't.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys liked the first chapter! Unfortunately both Quillstar and I are still in school so we dont really have an update schedule, whoops, but we'll try and get the next chapter out soon!


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